Rise of a New Dynamic Duo
by RicoSuave-42
Summary: Gotham City is left without the Dark Knight to defend her, in her hour of need; Dick Grayson must fill in the cowl while his mentor is "gone". However a new kid with a mysterious name, Ibn al Xu'ffasch, is determined to become the next Robin, even if it means killing Tim Drake. Takes place 10 years after TT&JL: Chase for the Hood.
1. Words Left Unsaid

**A/N: I do not own the Teen Titans, they belong to DC Comics. Paine belongs to Pizet.**

My daughter and I were patrolling the streets of Jump City, nothing out of the ordinary, at least for now. It was around 4 AM and I knew Kori was going to be furious at us for not coming back a hour earlier. "Nightstar, let's go before Starfire gets worried."

"Okay, D... er... Nightwing." Even when she knows not to call me "dad" but I can't be too hard on my daughter; it took me a year to call Bruce, Batman. It took us only about 5 minutes to return home, in Titans' Tower but I hear Kori talking to... Diana? What's she doing here? "Dad, why's grandma Diana here?"

"I wonder too, your highness." I reply to my daughter, I walk to the room where Mrs. Grayson is comforting a crying... Mrs. Wayne. "Diana? What's wrong?"

She hugs me and cries harder, "I'm sorry, Richard!" She manages to tell between sobs.

"Where's Bruce?" I ask.

"He's... He's..." She couldn't complete the sentence due to her tears; don't tell me that Bruce is dead, please, and I hold back tears that want to force their way out. I leave the room where they're at and I enter the evidence room and I lean on the table. All the memories we had together! Why didn't they let me go with them?! I could've helped them, I could've saved Bruce! I look up and I toss the table, the sound of glass smashing was extremely loud and expensive. I see a picture of Bruce and I, it was the first time that I went out patrolling with him, and we prevented a robbery. I throw the picture to the ground and I smash test tubes. In my fit of uncontrollable rage and guilt, I lift up a customized computer that weighs about 500 pounds, and I throw it across the room. My legs give out on me, causing me to kneel.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I roar.

"Richard, please stop this madness!" A distressed, crying Kori pleaded with me.

"H... How... How, I am suppose to forgive myself? How was I suppose to know that this was going to be our final conversation before..." I refused to believe he was actually dead. "If I would've known... I would've talked to him more! I could've convinced him to let me go with them! I could've... I could've told him how thankful I was for his help during my time of need, how much I loved him!" Rivers of tears flooded my vision as I now realize that I'm a complete moron. I wasted all the time I had with him, with petty arguments and living with a grudge against him! "I wish I had more time." I mutter while my wife embraces me.

***TT***

This was the first time anyone seen Dick Grayson throw a fit of this magnitude. His fit of rage didn't go unnoticed by his other roommates, he invertedly woke up Paine, Cyborg, and Sarah. Changeling and Raven were still awake, their eyes were going to win a battle, when the sound of dying glass prevented the eyes from resting. They looked stunned at their leader not able to control himself.

Young Mar'i didn't understand what was happening with her father until "Grandma Diana" told her what was wrong and she couldn't believe what she heard coming out of her grandma's mouth. She thought that her grandma was lying. What her father didn't know, was that her relationship grew with her grandparents as they visited Gotham more and more. She couldn't believe Grandpa Bruce was dead, she knew that her grandpa was a tough man. The first time she was witness to the infamous "batglare", it sent shivers down her spine, but she knew there was hell to be paid if anyone tried to harm her.

After a few hours of recovering from the devastating news, Richard regained composure, "When do we leave for Gotham?" The recovered, young man asks his step-mom.

"Today."


	2. The Introduction of Ibn al Xu'ffasch

**A/N: I do not own Teen Titans, they belong to DC Comics. Also I do not own Paine, she belongs to DC Comics.**

The flight towards Gotham went pretty fast but the jet lag hit everyone hard. Rachel, Garfield, Paine, Kori, Mar'i, and I almost went to sleep by the time we entered Wayne Manor, but Diana kept us awake until she guided us into our rooms.

After sleeping for almost ten hours, I walk around the Manor, and I hear footsteps from behind me. There not Mar'i's yet they sounded like someone around her age's weight. Then I heard glass smash and I sprinted to where the glass fell. I see Tim Drake fighting someone younger than him but his stance reminded me of someone who was apart of the League of Assassins. "What do you two think you're doing?!" I shout at them both.

"Dick..." Tim started speaking.

"NO! You two are fighting in Bruce's Manor!"

"بدأ ذلك!" The younger kid spoke in a foreign language.

"Do you know what he said?" I ask Tim and he shrugs his shoulders. I take out my Bat-shaped communicator and I contact Jason, "Do you know anything about this kid?" I face the camera towards the kid, then back at me.

"Apparently, he's the son of Bruce and Talia. Diana thinks Bruce cheated on her, at least what she told me." Jason responded.

"Meet up in the Batcave." I order and he nods. "This also includes you two!" I tell them both and I begin the search for my step-mom. I look everywhere for her and I can't find her anywhere and it's almost 9 o'clock; the time Batman starts his patrol. I walk into the Batcave to see Jason, Tim, the little kid, and Diana; also makes her appearance too. "Since Bruce is..."

"You honestly believe he's dead?!" Tim shouts in anger.

"As much as I don't want to believe so, I'm not sure." I admit, "However, Gotham cannot be left without a Batman, tonight." I answer with an absolute resolution and everyone agrees. "Alfred, do you have my Batsuit?"

"Coming, Master Richard." He walks to get my Batsuit.

"Why should you be Batman?!" Jason shouts.

"You almost killed the Joker!" I yelled.

"You killed Tony Zucco!" He retaliates with misguided information.

"He died from the debris that fell on him!" I spit back the truth.

"You two, stop!" Diana commands and we listen to her. "Now, that I have your attention, before Bruce died. He told if anything should happen to him, he wanted Richard to be heir as Batman." She states and we nod at our, possibly, dead mentor.

"Master Richard, the suit is here." I nod at Alfred and I change into my Batsuit. It's nice having to wear to wear it again, but I have updated the height to match my own. I put everything on except the cowl.

"What are we going to with him." I pointed at the little kid.

"Ibn?" Diana asks.

"Ibn?" Jason responds to his name.

"Ibn al Xu'ffasch." It's a Middle Eastern name for sure.

"So, Ibn." I began.

"ماذا تريد?" What?

"Can you speak English?" I look into his eyes to know that he speaks English but he refuses to speak it.

"وأنك لن تجعلني التحدث باللغة الإنجليزية." I hate Ibn, already.

"I might regret this..." I sigh and I pull out my Titans' Communicator to call my wife, "Kori, can you tell Mar'i to come to the Batcave?" She nods at me and in a few minutes my daughter shows up. "Mar'i, do you want to speak Arabic?"

"YES!" She levitates.

"He knows Arabic!" I point to Ibn and he looks at me with confusion. Mar'i lunges toward Ibn and plants a serious kiss that lasts a good twenty seconds, and I have to pry her off of him.

He wipes his lips, "ما هي النسبة?" He yells at my daughter.

"لتعلم اللغة العربية، دوه! أنا نصف Tamaranian، لذلك شعبي تعلم لغات جديدة من خلال الاتصال الشفة" She tells him like he knows what a Tamaranian is.

"Whatever!" He finally gives up, "I am indeed Bruce's and Talia's son"

"That would explain how you know how to fight like the League of Assassins." I state.

"How can you be the son of Bruce? He hasn't visited Talia in like ten years!" Diana asks him.

"I was artificially created." He admits, "I was genetically born to be perfect and to take over for my grandfather as head of the League of Assassins. As you know already, I was trained by many of the world's greatest assassins."

"How did you manage to get Bruce's DNA?" Jason inquires.

"He left blood samples from many battle with my grandfather, Ra's al Ghul, and various battles. The scientists just used genetic engineering to create me." A quick pause, "I expect to attend the board meeting in two days, to discuss my what my shares are going to be while my dad is gone." He said remorseless and I glare at him.

"What makes you think the board members will give you something and take you seriously."

"I learned business, criminology, and forensics." States with an aura of confidence.

After a quick moment of silence, "I don't want to call you Ibn, so we need another name for you." I tell Ibn, "Diana, did you and Bruce ever discuss what names you wanted if you two ever had a child?"

"We were thinking, Damian."

"Sounds good to me." I state while Jason and Tim agree and eventually, Damian accedes his new name. "Tim."

"What up, Dick."

"I don't want to be my Robin." I clearly state but he looks at me with disgust.

"Are you kidding me!" Replies a pissed off Tim.

"Daddy, why are you Grandpa Bruce's Batsuit?" Mar'i asks me.

"Tim, I see you as an equal to me, much like Jason. Mar'i, dear, daddy has to protect Gotham."

"Can I go with you?"

"Not tonight, your highness." I respond.

"Your highness?! What kind of crap of this, Dick. I understand she's your daughter but you think she is some sort of princess; you're dead wrong!" Damian yells out.

"My mother is queen of Tamaran! You..." She steps towards him.

"Mar'i!" I yell at her to stop.

"We got ourselves a badass!" Damian puts his hands up like Neil deGrasse.

"You're seriously making a mistake!" Mar'i's eyes glow and she wants to kill him.

"What are you..." Mar'i hugs Damian, intentionally squeezing the air out of him. "Can't... Breathe... Need... Oxygen." He manages to say and Mar'i decides to let go and Damian falls to the ground.

As he gasps for air, "Used to happen to me, a lot... Robin." Everyone looks at me in shock.

"Dad, you're not serious, are you?!"

"Dick, I must be deaf. Can you repeat that?" Jason asks.

"Are you sure you want to have Damian as Robin?" Diana asks.

"C'mon! He doesn't deserve to earn the title of Robin!" Tim shouts at me.

"Maybe so, but I could reform him for the better. Damian, grab Jason's old Robin tunic and put it on along with the mask. Tim, find a new identity to call yourself."

"Better yet, I'll look for Bruce to prove that he isn't dead!" He storms off.

"Alright, Batman! I'm ready to fight crime!" I notice a sword sheathed on Damian's side.

"What do you think you're taking?" I ask him.

"My katana."

"No!" I search for a bo staff and give it to him. "You should know how to work this, I assume."

"I prefer my katanas over the bo staff!"

"No killing!" I reinstate.

"Fine!" He hands me his katana.

"Raise your right hand." He looks at me, a bit, hesitating. Until he gets the idea and raise his right hand, "Repeat after me: criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot..."


	3. The First Night

**A/N: I do not own the Teen Titans, they belong to DC Comics**

"So, Robin..." I began, pretty weird to think only 16 years ago, I was the first Robin, but this time; I'm Batman and Bruce's son is Robin. Weird, "How are you enjoying your first day as Robin?" I ask him while we are inside of the Batmobile.

"I was destined for this day!" He says, cocky bastard.

"What makes you say that?" I ask, knowing his answer will be along the lines of this: 'I'm Bruce's son.'

"Obviously, I am son of the Bat and grandson of the Demon's Head."

"Is that what Ibn al Xu'ffasch, means, Son of the Bat?" He nods.

"Your daughter kissed me to learn Arabic? How does that work?"

"She is half Tamaranian and they learn languages instantaneously through lip contact."

"Did your wife kiss you to learn English?"

"Yeah. Why did you try to avoid speaking to us in English?"

"I didn't feel like talking to Tim Drake!"

"What's your problem with him?"

"Before my... our father died, I wanted to fulfill my destiny as Robin, but Tim was in the way!" He glared, mastering the glare, already?

"Do you know how he died?" I ask.

"He battled... Darkseid." Damian chocked up the last part of the sentence.

"What?" I look at Damian in shock, who is on the verge of crying, but he fights his tears from coming out. "I understand you want to cry, Damian. It's okay to show your emotions for our father." Tears fall out of eyes and land on the seat and I pull over to comfort Damian.

"Why does this hurt so badly? I wanted to be accepted by our father!" He lets out his emotions.

"There are words you... we, didn't have the opportunity to tell him." I admit the reason for our sadness.

"Do... Do you think we'll ever see him again?"

"I'm sure of it, Damian." My optimism radiates towards him.

After we dried our tears, I decide to split up, and cover more ground. After two hours, I decide to contact Damian but he doesn't respond back. "Alfred? Garfield? Rachel? Kori? Mar'i?"

"Yes, dad?" Mar'i answers.

"Can you track uncle Damian?"

"He's not my UNCLE!" However she still does track him down. "He's in Arkham Asylum." Why is he over there?

"Thank you, sweetie. Now, go to bed."

"Good night, dad!"

"Good night."

I'm doing about 75 mph on the Batmobile towards Arkham and I'm surprised that I haven't gotten pulled over, yet. However, what can be over at Arkham? I hope he hasn't done anything bad. As I get clearance to enter the asylum, "Excuse, do you know where Robin went?" I ask the receptionist.

"Cell block #122003609." She responds.

My walking pace increases as I look for this cell block, Arkham Asylum; home to Batman's greatest villains. Why would Damian visit a place like this? It doesn't make sense to me. Then I found the cell block and I see Damian playing chess with Hush, Dr. Thomas Elliot; if one would look at him, he looked exactly like Bruce Wayne. "Robin." He looks back at me and he waves good bye to Hush, "Go back to the Batmobile, I'll be there in a few minutes." I tell him and he leaves to go back to the car. "Why was he playing chess with you?" I ask sterningly.

"If I have to assume, little Robin is making up for lost time with Bruce. Since I'm the only person that resembles him." Elliot smiles.

"How long has this been happening?"

"His second day visiting me." I walk away from Elliot, to Batmobile, and confront Damian.

"Why did you visit Elliot?" He shrugged his shoulders like I didn't have a clue. "I understand that that you miss Bruce, but do not visit Elliot, again."

"Why?"

"Elliot and Bruce are not the same person! When Elliot looked into the abyss, he blinked when the abyss looked back through him." I explain to young Damian.

"What is the abyss?" He asks.

"A spot in the Batcave,; when you're old enough, you'll be able to look through it, and it will look back through you, but will you do this alone."

After my talk with Damian, we enter Old Gotham, and we investigate any crimes. I begin to worry about about Damian's mental health. Due to him not knowing Bruce well enough and I have a feeling, Ra's or Talia didn't teach him any social skills. I wonder what else they haven't taught him, I realize that Damian is my responsibility, and I have to teach him; all the things Diana or Clark can't teach him.

After a night of inactivity, we return to the Batcave, and I see Mar'i sleeping on the chair looking at the computer. I can't help but smile at my daughter sleeping. I take off my cowl and lift up my daughter and I place her in her room. She mummers something in her sleep but I pay no attention to it. I see Damian, still in his Robin costume, inside the Manor. "Aren't you going to take the costume off?" I ask him.

"I don't want to. Honestly, this is one of the best nights I've had!" He says cheerfully and I nod.

"The first night of being Robin is usually the best night." I tell him, "You know what's better than the first night?" He looks at me confused, "Coming back tomorrow and kicking ass." I smile at him and before we change into pajamas, "During the day, I'm going to teach to have recreational fun."

"What's that? Does it involve me killing Tim?"

"NO! It has nothing to do with killing, just having fun."

"What is thing called fun." He yawns, before I can explain what is; so I allow him to go into his room and fall asleep. Which reminds me, I have to go to bed with my wife. I enter the room and I place a kiss on her forehead and she readjusts, so that she is laying on my chest. I notice my eyelids are getting the better of me as I drift into sleep.

***A Few Hours Later***

"Why do you try to replace my MOTHER? You will never be my MOTHER!" I hear a child screaming and my brain is telling that it is Damian, but who is he speaking to?

"Why can't you just get along with me?" Diana shouts at Damian.

"No! Why should I respect you?"

"Damian!" I yell out, "She's _our_ father's wife!" I enter the room where they're at.

"Remember, I'm his blood; you're just adopted!" He retaliates out of frustration.

"You're just a tool!" I tell him the truth, he tries to slap me, but I catch his hand. "Ra's and Talia, never loved you!" Another hit attempted but I dodge it. Before he could try to attempt another swing at me, Diana wraps him up in her lasso. "If they truly loved you, they would've taught you more than just knowledge of how business works; they would've taught you how to earn respect. In retrospect Damian, they harmed you because, from I can tell, they've treated you like a prince who hasn't learned humility. That's the one thing you lack!" I state.

"You don't know how I was raised, circus freak!" He retorts.

"I know how Ra's works, Damian, when you're the right age; he'll use the Lazarus Pit on you and take control of your body! Why can't you see that?" I pause for a little bit, "You're right, Damian, I wasn't born from a test tube, I was born to two loving parents. They may have not had the same type of wealth as Ra's but they still loved me with all their hearts, nonetheless." I look into his soul and I could tell, he doesn't want to believe what he is hearing. "Diana, might not be our real mother, but she will treat us like if we we're _her _kids. Why can't you see and accept that?" I could see Diana's eyes water up from my peripheral vision and I see Damian tears flow out of him. Diana looses the lasso on him and wraps him in a hug. For a moment, I could see the same smile he showed earlier, when he was Robin. After a few minutes of silence, I decide to break it, "Be ready in an hour, we're still going have recreational fun." I tell him sincerely.


	4. Attempting to Have Fun

**A/N: I do not own Teen Titans or Paine; they belong to DC Comics and Pizet, respectively.**

There was actually sunlight in Gotham, somewhat rare in this hopeless city, one would say. Nonetheless, it was a perfect day to get outside and relax, maybe play some basketball. That's what Dick and Garfield decided to do; at least to show Damian what fun is. "Yo, Garfield; alley-oop!" Dick yelled as he was racing towards the hoop and Garfield hook shot the ball over there. The ball never reached the basket instead it met Dick's hands and he dunked it. Damian was confused but he wanted to perform what Dick did, admittedly. Dick retrieved the ball and noticed that Garfield was running towards the hoop; so he tossed the ball up and let Garfield do the rest. Garfield grabbed the ball, in mid-air, and he swirled around in a 360 and threw the ball through the hoop.

Damian was just mystified by the whole spectacle, he wondered how they were able to move defy gravity. It was his first time that he saw anyone dare try to defy gravity. However, Dick was a circus acrobat, who's job it was to defy it, and Garfield always had an itch to some incredible stunt. To Damian, this was foreign to him as half-alien, half-human hybrid child. He wanted to try but he understood that his height wouldn't allow him to even reach the net. The thing was, he didn't understand how to shoot a basketball; all he's seen was slam dunks and alley-oops. He never saw how Dick or Garfield shot, it must be easy right? At least he hoped so.

Garfield threw the basketball towards Dick and Dick decided it was time to show Damian how to shoot the ball. Dick had the grooves of the ball facing him, he lifted up his right hand with his left hand being the support, and he flicked his wrist. The ball went launching into the air, it was a simple motion, yet complicated for an unfamiliar person. The ball the was close enough go inside but it hit the rim and almost bounced out; Garfield got the rebound and layed it in. Another move, Damian thought. Then Garfield passed it to Damian.

Damian released and caught, and repeated for three times. He looked up at the hoop and he walked closer to the hoop, sensing he was "beyond the arc". He lifted his right hand up, let his left hand support, and with one great motion; he released the ball out of his hands and the ball went into the air but the ball didn't reach the rim. He was confused why his shot didn't make the hoop but Garfield looked at Damian and looked at Dick. H noticed that Damian didn't jump when he shot the ball. "Dude, you gotta jump if you want the ball to reach the hoop." He told the little boy. He tried all the mechanics again but with a jump and the ball made the hoop; nothing but net.

He jumped and waved his arm like Tiger Woods. He was more excited than Tim Tebow, yes someone could be more excited than Tim Tebow and not say it 47 times. Damian was back-flipping and both men were just looking at him like a new baby learning how to potty train. They shook their heads as it was just one basket he made and he goes crazy.

While the boys were playing out on the basketball courts, the girls; consisting of Diana, Rachel, Kori, Mar'i, and Paine. The girls were talking small talk but the adults were talking with the adults and the kids with the kids. Something started bothering Mar'i but she couldn't exactly find the answer. "Paine?"

Yes, Mar'i?"

"Do you know..." She stumbled around to put into words what she was trying to say, "Feel like something is wrong but..." Boy, was she having a Changeling moment!

"You have a bad feeling that something might happen to Damian rather than your dad." Paine, much like her mother, stated rather than asked.

"Wha?" She blushed. "No, just no!" She tried to deny it but her empathic friend could sense the lie.

"I can feel your emotions, I'm surprised you keep them concealed around my mom." The young empath rolls her eyes.

"Is that bad?" She asks.

"Depends on the perspective." Paine replies.

"Supposedly he's my _uncle_." Mar'i tells her friend.

"Is he?"

"I was wondering if you could find out."

"I could ask Diana..."

"No! None of the adults should find out."

"They'll tell you that your feelings are wrong." Paine finishes Mar'i's sentence.

"Exactly!" She told her.

"Why do you like him, anyways? He's such a jerk and a twerp."

"I don't think he's that bad. I mean he's like an onion; you gotta peel off the layers." Mar'i justified her answer.

While Mar'i was telling her conflicted feelings for Damian; Kori and Rachel were trying to make Diana forget about her worries about Bruce. They wanted to comfort the Amazon during her time of loss and need. The first thing they did't want to was bring up the topic of Bruce's death; they instead talked about normal stuff. Well depends on the normal stuff, Kori's normal stuff was shopping, and Rachel's normal was reading. Completely two different normals.

While they were talking about normal things; Jason showed up on his motorcycle with Tim. Jason threw his duffle bag at the base of the hoop and smiled at the two and half men. The look of excitement on Damian's face, changed to a look of pissed. He was pissed that Tim came with Jason, he hated Tim with all his heart, due to the fact that he was his father's Robin. He always felt that way, due to him being the son of Bruce, and he felt that it was his destiny. "What up Dickie-bird!" Jason yelled out.

"I'm glad both of you could show up!" Dick responded

"You invited _them_?!" Damian shouted.

"What's the problem?" Tim questioned.

"Yo, Jason!" Dick wanting to quickly end this dispute, "How about a little two-on-two?"

"Yeah! Me and you vs Tim and Damian?"

"Sounds good to me!"

"WHAT!" Tim and Damian shouted at the exact same time and they looked at each other then away.

"Why do I have to team up with Tim?" Damian protested.

"Training exercise! You are going to experience working with people you don't like, so what better way to start!"Dick justified.

"Alright, let's make things a bit more interesting!" Garfield suggested with his eyebrow wiggle. "Loser has to wash all my clothes and clean my room!" Dick and Jason shuddered at the mentioning of Garfield's clothes. Although Garfield was dating Rachel, he still hadn't learn to wash all his clothes properly.

"Deal!" Tim and Damian yelled in agreement without understanding what Garfield's clothes smelled like.

"I'll referee the game." Garfield said.

Garfield held the ball in his hands, he let Dick and Tim touch it, and he released it in the air. Letting gravity and height decide who will get the ball first, Dick was obviously taller than Tim, so he was able to reach the ball first. Dick hit the ball towards Jason and he ran off towards the hoop to lay-off but he was rejected by a quickly thinking Damian. "No, no, no! Not in my house!" Damian told an eye-rolling Jason.

"Lucky play." Muttered Jason.

Tim was able to rebound the ball and he was jogging towards the other side, waiting for Damian to catch up. Tim noticed that Damian was being lightly covered by Jason; so he decided to attack the hoop, but at the last minute, he passed the ball to a waiting Damian. Damian got the ball and with a swift motion, he released the ball into the air, and drained the shot from beyond the arc. The crowd (consisting of Diana, Kori, Mar'i, Rachel, and Paine) shouted in excitement for Damian's three-pointer but Mar'i's cheer was the loudest out of five. "C'mon, Jason! Better defense!" Dick communicated with Jason, before Dick inbounded the ball to him. Dick rushed around Tim and Damian; Jason threw the ball towards the side of the hoop and Dick performed a slam dunk. Kori wrote up a sign that said 10 on a slam dunk intensity meter and waved a towel. Tim and Damian looked at each other and knew they weren't able to stop a slam dunk, but they did understand that Damian can shoot raining three's.

So the game went like that for for another thirty minutes; Tim had 10 points, Damian had 15 points, Dick had 14 points, and Jason had 11 points. "Last point, wins." Jason announced and they agreed. Jason inbounded the ball towards Dick and Dick had to side step Tim. He tried to get around Damian but his defense was spectacular. Dick analyzed the situation and saw that Tim was walking over and Jason was ready to charge the basket. So he decided to pass the ball to Jason and he toppled over Tim and made the basket... "Offensive charge!" Garfield shouted. "Basket doesn't count."

"What?" Dick and Jason yelled at the same time.

"Youngling's ball!"

Garfield passed the ball to Damian, who didn't want to inbound the ball, couldn't pass the ball to Tim without him getting wide open. The defense was overwhelming for the younglings but Tim spun around Jason and was able to have a small lead on Dick. Damian lobbed the ball to Tim and Dick was ready to deny him of a point. Tim was leading the lay-up with his right hand but he switched the ball from his right to his left in a U motion. He completed the basket caused a upset of a lifetime. Dick and Jason looked at each other in disbelief. "What did we do to deserve this?" Jason dramatically asked.

"You blew up a building." Dick muttered under his breathe.

Damian and Tim shared a hug before they were reminded of their hate for each other and released their hug. Mar'i congratulated Damian on his 15 points or trying to flirt with the oblivious boy, who basically lead the game on points.

"You know that wasn't a foul, right?" Rachel told Garfield but he shook his head, believing his call. "Tim's feet were moving."

"Luckily we do not a reviews in pick-up games." He laughed while he leaned in to kiss Rachel.

About ten hours later, Dick, Damian, Jason, and Tim were dressed up in their costumes. Tim was still dressed like Robin but his outfit had mostly red coloring to it and his cape was designed like actual feathers. He also had a cowl without the horns and Dick and Damian couldn't stop laughing at Tim. "You look like a condom head!" Dick couldn't stop laughing at Tim's new look. "What do you call yourself?"

"Red Robin."

"Yum!" Dick and Jason shouted and Tim rolled his eyes.

"Tim, lose the wanna be cowl and just wear a mask instead." Dick suggested with Damian and Jason agreeing. Tim acceded to the suggestion and removed the cowl and put on a mask instead. Dick looked over his shoulders to see the Titans ready for action and he put on the cowl, "Is everyone ready?" He asked.

"I thought it was going to be us, the sons of Bruce only?" Damian questioned.

"It wouldn't be too bad to cover all of Gotham City." Jason said.

"Besides," Dick began, "you're working with Nightstar and Paine."

"Why?"

"Learn to lead a small team and get along with people you barely know."

"Whatever." Damian sighs.

"Tim and Jason, you two are working together."

"So Tim's my Robin, then?"

"Sure."

"Does everyone know what they're doing?" Everyone nodded and they left to Gotham while Starfire stayed behind with. "Are you ready?" He stuck out his hand and his wife took it.


	5. A Quiet Night in Gotham

**A/N: I do not own the Teen Titans or Paine; they belong to DC Comics and Pizet, respectively.**

After Dick dismissed us to patrol the streets of Gotham, we arrive to a building near Downtown Gotham. I was standing, with one leg and the other was resting on a ledge of the building we were on, next to a gargoyle overlooking the city. Dick made me lead Nightstar and Paine, a make-shift team of Titans. I look over the edge and I see people the size of ants, walking like there wasn't anything going on. After a few minutes of staring at the ground, I notice Paine finally admit her boredom by going into her lotus position, and mediate. "Azarth, Metrion, Zinthos." She repeated her mantra and it was starting to irritate me; so much that I wanted to bang my head against the wall, repeatedly! I want to do something that's worth my while but I know that Dick will be on my ass about it.

I face away from the lights of the streets and I notice Mar'i's beautiful complexion. I want to face away but my body is refusing my orders. Why am I so compelled to look at her? She is pretty but that's not the point! Is it her lime green eyes? Her ebony hair? Her radiated skin? Why am I taking such a sudden interest in her? Out of all the girls in this universe or dimension, whatever you want it to be, why am I attracted to Mar'i? Why does this haunt me? Why did I go off topic?

As my mind drifts further into my lust for Mar'i, I hear a clash of metal being hit by a building, and I leap off the building to reach the ground before Mar'i or Paine can see me jump off the building. I overhear the cries of shock from them as I glide down, this moment of the wind blowing against my face is actually pretty fun. After I glide to ground level, I see the expression on their faces; realizing that I am fine. I search my surroundings to look for anything that might tell me something. I notice a car crashed into a building with no one hurt. I look further into the vehicle and I see a dead driver with a bullet in his brain. Before I touch the car, I see the words "Boy Blunder IV" written all over the car. Looks like someone had enough time to write this before fleeing the crime but who? I look at Paine, "Can sense anything inside that car like a bomb or something?"

"Not at the moment but we should contact someone, though."

"Why? We can do this!" I shout at her.

"I think Paine is right." Mar'i responds.

I take out a little finger printer scanner and I see some prints, "Who ever left the vehicle, left their prints along with it." I state while I'm getting the prints read. Let's see, Mr. Napier? But you're dead though! "Guys, how can a man that's supposed to be dead, be still alive, and committing crime?" I ask them.

"Who's finger prints do they belong to?" Mar'i asks.

"They belong to a Jack Napier." I tell them.

"Maybe the police accidentality preannounced him dead." Paine deadpans her theory.

"Maybe so but why wait seven years to reveal yourself to us?" I ask them while I put my mask into to 'investigation mode' and the tire marks show something happened while he was driving. I turn to Paine and ask, "Can you relive this man's memory or tell us what happened to him?" I request.

She walks up to him and her hand and eyes glow white as she attempts to relive the memory. "He is pulls up to two people, a man and a woman, and lets them inside the car. The woman sits behind them and the man sits next to the driver. He obviously knows them by the way he starts the conversation, 'Where to?' He asks.

The man replies, 'To Gotham Docks.' As he told him where to go, the driver noticed that the girl was looking at a building, and he looked up too. They... saw us?

The woman says, 'You let them follow us, didn't you?'

Before the man could say anything, he gets shot, and the vehicle loses control." Paine shivers as she tries to shake off the memory of death. Mar'i and I put our hands on Paine's shoulder.

"Did you see how the man and the woman looked like?" Nightstar asks her.

"Not clearly enough to remember." Paine admits.

"We're going to Gotham Docks; Paine, Mar'i, I'm going to need you two. Are you with me?" I ask.

"Yeah." They both respond.

"Titans, go!" I yell out the infamous battle cry of the Teen Titans.

Paine and Mar'i start to fly off before they remember I can't fly, but I use the grappling hook to catch up.

After we traverse Gotham to reach her docks, Paine senses something, "There's about fifty dead people and our suspects are here too, but not dead."

"I wonder how they had time to write that message out." I reply. "Let's slipt up and try to find them." I order them and they nod at me.

We take the stealthy approach and we try to conceal ourselves in the shadows. I walk into a shed and I open it to reveal dead, skinned bodies. I remember reading about the field of bones during the Vietnam War but what I'm seeing is disgusting. My stomach shows how I feel about my current predicament. I puke out what I ate earlier and more. After I puke, my weary body falls backwards, and I hear someone laughing at me.

"So, you're the fourth Boy Blunder." I glare at the man with a scarred smile on his face. "There's no need for glaring at uncle Joker." Uncle Joker?

"What are you doing in Gotham?" I demand.

"I was going to have fun with the new Batman, y'know, the first Boy Blunder." He tells me, "But I don't mind having my fun with you!" He smiles at me very disturbingly. I try to get up but my body is too tired to get up, having wasted its energy on puking. I secretly take out my bo staff and wait for Joker to make his first move. As he walks closer to me, I see a paper sticking out his coat pocket; I have to find out what's inside it! He draws his hand to my shoulder and I hit him with my bo staff and he falls down. I take whatever I need and I hear the sound of a cocked gun point at me.

"You hurt Mista J and I'm going to kill you!" I throw smoke bombs and I manage to escape the trap. I see Paine and I wave at her to come near me.

"We gotta escape!" I tell her.

"No duh!" She opens a portal to the Batcave and I see Nightstar already there. We attempt to enter the cave until we hear footsteps and a cocking of a gun, and we turn around to our horror.

"You kids aren't getting away that easily!" I turn around to see a woman with clown make-up with the gun pointed at us. I start feeling the effects of the adrenaline rush

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Paine yells out, the portal disappears, the gun in the woman's hand starts to glow black, and shatters in her hands. I throw another smoke bomb to the ground and we get the hell out of there. Paine stops and senses the environment to make sure that no one is around us; while I make sure no one notices us. "I sense no one but that'll change as soon as they find us. You ready to get out of this hell-hole?" I nod my head north and south; Paine opens the portal revealing Mar'i is already in the cave and we enter it.

I look around the cave, feeling a little nausea from my throw up, and the adrenaline rush going away, too. "My stomach hurts." I rub my stomach and my legs give out on me. Mar'i and Paine help me back on my feet and move me to a chair. After a few minutes, Mar'i brings me a bowl of soup and a sports drink to help me recover, "Thank you." I tell her nicely.

"You're welcome."

After waiting for an hour, everyone comes back from the night patrol, and looks suspiciously at us. They look at us like we did something wrong, "Why didn't you guys tell us anything?" Dick asks.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I respond, hoping my lie will pass.

"Explain to me why it was okay to go after Joker?"

"Who's the Joker?" I try to stall.

"Don't lie to us!" Dick yelled.

"Does Jack Napier mean anything to you?" Rachel asks.

That's the name I was trying to figure out, then I ran into the Joker. I wonder where he is? Is Joker working for him? They must've sensed my hesitation because Dick jumps on me, "Jack Napier is Joker!"

"How do you know that and know we were there?" I ask curiously.

"Because I smelled your scent at the crash site and Rachel was able to read the dead driver's memory." Garfield answers.

The look on mine, Paine, and Mar'i was a look of shock, how did they get wind of the driver crashing into that building? "What's the problem with us going after a lead?" I ask.

"Are you serious, Damian? The problem? If you would've contacted us, you could've avoided the Joker, and not put yourselves in any danger! That's the problem." Dick glared at us.

They started whispering something to each other and I begin to worry for Paine and Mar'i, because I brought this upon them. I convinced them to follow my orders and I possibly put them in danger. I hope they didn't encounter trouble whatsoever. I walk over to them, "I'm sorry." I tell them sincerely.

"It's okay, Damian." Paine tries to comfort me.

"Don't worry about it." Mar'i tries to lighten up the mood but it's obvious it's not helping me out.

After a minutes of silence, "Paine, Mar'i; I want you two to go home with your parents and Damian, I'm going to have to put you on the sidelines." Dick tells us and I look at him a bit irritated, "So Garfield, Rachel, Kori; help them pack their things." Dick walks to the mega-computer, I walk towards him, and they walk away.

"C'mon, Dick! Don't punish them! They just listened to what I thought was the right thing and I was wrong." I look to the floor. "Please, let them stay; I don't care if I'm stripped away from the Robin title! Just don't let them leave!" I plead with him.

"Why do you care if they leave?"

"I care because... because they're the first real friends that are my age. Admittedly, I never had any friends when I was being raised; I was constantly being told, 'Damian, do this. Do that. Figure these problems out! No, they're wrong, do these again!'" I sincerely tell him, remembering exactly what they told me.

I hear the chair swivel around, "Okay little bro, we're making progress." Making progress, what do you mean? "A good leader can lead, but an excellent leader, takes responsibility."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Well to be honest, I was testing you on how responsible you would be on the field." He explains to me. "Kori, tell them the good news."

"So, they're not leaving?"

"No, not really." He smiles for a second then it disappears and turns into a glare, "Next time, don't endanger your teammates; that includes mine and Garfield's daughter!"

"What do you have me to?"

"Call us, especially if it's the Joker!" He puts his hand on my shoulder, "It doesn't hurt to have common sense, okay." He tells me and I take off my Robin's uniform. After I take it off and I was walking up the stairs, "You're still my Robin!" I smile at this announcement; one to show off to Tim and two, I love my uniform.

I decide to fall asleep and let my eyes rest. I will take this time to forget what happened and focus what I need to improve on as a leader. I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow? I suppose it wouldn't kill me to give upon meat and eat tofu. Actually, tofu doesn't sound too disgusting, I mean, if Garfield can eat this type of food then what's stopping me from eating? My eyelids are finally getting the best of me as I slip into the realm we call sleep. So goodnight everybody!

The smell of food reaches my nose and my mouth along with my stomach, alerts me of my current lack of food. I awake from my slumbered I walk to the area to which my body decides to locate the source of my stomach's desire. After walking though the hallow hallways of my father's house, I finally locate where the source leads me to. I discover that Alfred is making Dick, Kori, Mar'i, and Rachel something that is based on meats. While Garfield is making himself and Paine tofu. Honestly the tofu is looking good! I walk up to everybody and my step-mom hands me my plate, "Here, Damian." She smiles at me and I look at the food unwilling to eat the meat.

"I'm sorry, step-mom, but I'm not hungry for meat. I'm going to be a vegetarian!" Everybody looks at me with a look of confusion. Like what made me come up with this idea or that Garfield forced me to come to this conclusion.

"Are you sure, Damian?" Dick questions me and I nod at him. Garfield looks at me and decides to take out extra slices of tofu bacon, he puts three tofu eggs in the pan, and pours soy milk. After a few minutes of waiting for the tofu bacons sizzling on the pan, Garfield finally hands me my plate, and I start chowing down on it. I have to admit that eating tofu was not as bad as some people were saying it was, sure it's not the same when it comes to flavor, but it doesn't taste terrible.

Garfield walks up to me, "Dude, what made you not want to eat meat anymore?"

"It's what I saw yesterday that made me change what I actually eat." I explain without going into any details of my real nightmare.


	6. Heretic!

**A/N: I do not own the Teen Titans or Paine; they belong to DC Comics and Pizet, respectively.**

**Kaybeett411: Thank you for your reviews!**

** IHatetheNew52: Thank you for the positive feedback and I hate the reboot too!**

**kelly: Red X = Jason Todd = Red Hood; I hope I clear any confusion! No, Red Hood will not fall in love with Starfire.**

"Nightstar! Get Paine, I'll defend you girls!" I think I hear Damian yell out.

"Paine? Paine?" My hearing gets better but not my awareness. What happened? I blink my eyes at Mar'i and she extends her hand out and I grab her forearm. She pulls me up and I see Damian battling a muscular adult. Honestly things don't look like they're going alright with Damian. He's bleeding all over the place with some bruises on his body.

He's having a hard time getting up, so Mar'i and I try to help him out. Despite our efforts to help out Damian, the older man out maneuvers us, and hits me in the head; sending me a few yards back and he threw something that would temporarily hold back Mar'i. "Which one of you two should I kill?" He questions while looking at us and I try to say my mantra, but it's futile. As words attempt to escape my mouth, they're stopped as something is preventing their movement. He must've smashed my throat when he countered my attack.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" Damian bickers at the man as he leaps towards him. However, the man must've been expecting Damian to attack, because he draws out his sword... Oh my God! Damian, No! I raise my hand but I'm powerless to do a damn thing. I watch Damian leap into the sword and slide down to the handle.

I feel the rage engulf me, telling me I _have _to kill the man who murdered my friend. Mar'i finally rips the constraints off her and she is just as pissed as me. Mar'i flies over to the adult and throws starbolts at him. He tries to deflect them but one of the starbolts hits him in the hand and he drops the sword. I no longer saw with eyes that can see the color of the rainbow, rather with eyes that see red.

The monster of a man attempts to flee but my tendril prevents him from doing so. I smile at him as the blood from my throat gets released upon. Then Mar'i delivers the final blow the monster; she punches his head off, releasing gallons of blood to the ground. After we relish in our victory, reality kicks in as we turn to see Damian holding his stomach, "Damian!" Mar'i shouts and we fly over to him; Mar'i cradles the head of Damian and beings to cry. Tears also flow, softly down my cheeks.

"You two... are too... beautiful to cry for me. I don't deserve it." Damian whimpers as his thumb tries to divert the path of the tears of Mar'i.

"Damian, don't say that; please, save your strength!" Mar'i pleads with him.

"Don't worry." He smiles at us. "Paine... Thank you, for being my friend." The flow of tears speeds down my cheeks as I no longer can hold back my sadness. "Mar'i... I... I... L..." His head falls back and he drew in his last breath.

The surrounding buildings begin to shake, "DAMIAN!" Mar'i cries while she hugs the redeemed hero and the buildings collapse...


	7. Late Night Herbal Tea

**I do not own Teen Titans, some members of the Justice, and Paine. They belong to DC Comics and Pizet, respectively.**

I feel the rush of wind hit my face as I wake up from a terrible nightmare and whatever was in my room is violently released to the floor. That couldn't be real! Everything felt so real yet it was just a dream? Why did I have this dream? What could've caused me so much emotional trauma that I dreamed that Damian actually died? "Paine?" Mar'i rushes to my side. "What happened?"

"I... I don't know, I must've had a nightmare." I jumble the words around.

"What was it about?" She asks intrigued.

"I don't remember what happened at first but I was knocked out. Then you helped me up and Damian was fighting this tough guy and... and... and..." I start to panick as I relive that twisted dream.

Mar'i places her hand on my shoulder, "If you don't want to finish, I understand." I feel relieved about the situation and a small smile forms on my face.

After a few silent minutes, "I'm going out for herbal tea, do you want to come?"

"Yes." We walk towards the kitchen and we see Damian petting a kitten.

He hears our footsteps and looks at us, "What? You haven't seen a grown boy pet a kitten before?" He questions.

"Since when did you get a kitten?" I ask.

"Since... Since..." He tries to think too hard. "Well, I don't remember when I got this little feller." He pets the cute, little kitty. Since when did I become a cat person?

"How do you not remember?" Mar'i is a little confused. "We've only been here for a couple of days and you don't remember?"

"You girls and your families arrived about five days ago, while I've been here for more than ten days, and I met this little fellow eight days ago." He lifts up the sweet kitty who gives Mar'i a lick on her cheek. "I guess he followed back me to the Batcave and he's been a little shy for the past couple of days." He looks at the kitty. "You're a bad boy, Mr. Snuggles!" He mockingly points his finger at the kitty. "These girls won't hurt you. If they do, they're dead." He smiles at the kitty who meows at Damian. "Aww." Seriously, a few days ago, he was acting like a jackass to Mar'i and I, and a simple kitty makes this kid act like a little five-year old girl. Are you serious?

I walk past the boy and his cat-fetish, and make my way to the kitchen. I look for my mother's herbal tea and I'm having a hard time looking for it. After two minutes of searching through the cabinets, I decide to use my sense smell, which is one of the traits I inherited from him, and I sniff the air for the tea. My nose tells me to walk to away from the kitchen and walk towards the liquor cabinet. Why would my mom put them there and I hear Damian start to chuckle, "Damian, if you moved my herbal tea; there will be hell to pay. Do you know where I can send you?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "No, why?" He walks to the liquor cabinet, opens it, and he hands me the packages of herbal tea to me.

"At least I know you're not crazy enough to see where I can send you." I take the package away from him and I walk back to the kitchen to get a pot. I turn the facet clockwise and cold water jumps out and I wait for the hot water to take over. "Do you guys want herbal tea?"

Mar'i smiles, "Yes, please."

Damian was pondering about herbal tea, his mind was telling no, but his taste buds were telling him a different thing. So he shrugged his shoulders, "Sounds good to me."

I see the water begin to vaporize and I assume it's around 100°C and I let the pot go under the boiling water. The steam rises as the water hits the pot and I let it rise about half ways and I add about three tea bags into the pot. I decide to wait for seven minutes for the tea to steep and awkward silence fills the room. I hope seven minutes will come by fast because I don't want to be apart of silence any longer. "So..." I break the ice.

"Is there a way to sweeten the tea?" Damian asks simply.

"Yeah, you can add in honey." I recommend to him.

"Sounds delicious." He laughs.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, my mind alerts to the steeping being finished and I walk over the pot. Damian walks to the cabinets to look for honey while I pour the tea into the three cups. Damian and Mar'i walk up to me and I hand them their cups of tea. I let my tea take over my thoughts and I look at Damian who is looking at the full moon. "What are you looking at, Damian?" Can I be any lamer than this?

"Sometimes, I wonder if; my father is looking at the moon, too. I don't know why but my mother, Talia, told me when I was about four years old; that the moon is like a way of communication. I looked at it one time, when she was away, and I remember feeling her presence." Damian smiles at the moon, then looks at us. "Why are you guys up this late?"

I look down, then I decide to tell them of my nightmare, "I dreamed that you were killed by a man who was about the age of uncle Richard." They look at me very concerned.

"That was just a dream." Damian quickly dismissed but everything felt so real. They hug me lovingly. After a few minutes of peaceful silence, Damian's communicator rings, and he picks up. "Tim," He glares at the teen, "What do you want?" He says harshly.

"I'm not in the mood to argue! However, I think you need to see this. Come to the Batcave, this instantly!" Tim hangs up the call and we look at each other and nod to go into the Batcave.

As we descend down into the cave, I see my parents along with uncle Richard and auntie Kori along with Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter. What are they doing here? We walk towards them and Tim appears in front of us, "Follow me." He commands and we follow him to wherever he's taking us. "I've discovered something important, recently. Diana, have you and Bruce painted stuff together?"

"No, why?" Wonder Woman replies.

"Just as I thought," Tim takes out a flash light and points at a cave painting. It's a painting of bat on uncle Richard's uniform and two double-u's (That's how you spell "W") with a heart in between the bat and the two double-u's. Those double-u's belong to Wonder Woman!

"He's alive and he is around the time of Neanderthals!" Damian beams out. "We gotta go to that period!"

"I'm sorry, Damian, but this is just a hint. We need an exact time and location to find Bruce." Clark states, though he wants to go to the past and get his best friend out of there.

***TT***

I look around my environment and I don't see anything familiar, just trees and green land. As I move around, I feel something rubbing against my side. What is it? What's the function of this thing? Let's see, it's held together by something, for sure, but what is holding this mysterious device? It's circular in shape but it's hallow, there's stuff on the outside. I think my body might be able to fit around this device but I have to keep this device with me at all times.

A gentle wind breezes by and I start shivering. I look down at myself and I notice I'm not wearing anything to keep my torso warm. Then, I look into the sky to see where the source of heat is coming from and it's disappearing over the hill. I look into the heat source and my eyes are blinded by its beauty. However, I must find shelter for myself before my light disappears! I look around to find shelter for this period until the return of light. I spot fallen trees and I run towards it and I grab it; I take the wooden materials inside a cave not too far where I woke up.

I notice that I do not receive any heat from the shadows, so I need something to keep me warm, but what will keep me warm? I think the wood is apart of the answer but what will create a heat source that will keep me from freezing to death? I see two little stones and something hits me. I move some of the wood and put them in a little circle, but I still have some left over; just in case I need to throw more wood in there. When I have the wood ready to go, I start hitting the stones together, and nothing happens, yet. However, that doesn't deter me from trying to create a heat source. Again, I strike the stones together and a small spark comes out of the stones. I knew I couldn't just give up! I have to keep on going, no matter what! I will not die today!

After forty attempts to try to create something out of the stones, a spark ignites this beast that makes the wood cry upwards and instead of clear water; it's a mixture of heat source that I saw that was running away from me earlier. As I begin to touch my little heat source, it bites back, and I take a few steps back away from it. My hand is burning but the burns are not too excessive, thankfully. However, I must respect his space, I do not want to anger it so much, that it'll try to kill me. I should offer something to please his appetite, but I do not have anything to offer it, just more wood. I don't think it wants wood though. I have to figure out what it wants before it leaves to another person, leaving me to die.

I see the dirt and I rub my hands against it; my hands are dirty and I try to clean them but as I touch the wall of the cave, something happens. I left my hand print on the wall and maybe this is what the beast craves for. A story, but what kind of story would it be interested in? A story between a man and woman? Yes, that sounds good. Let's see, what shall I call these characters? How do they meet? How are they going to be represented?

How about a story of a bat and a wonderful woman? That sounds interesting! Let's see how am I going to design the bat and the wonderful woman. How does one try to draw these two characters? A bat enters my little cave and I start getting an idea for my bat character, but what about my wonderful woman character? How about two double-u's! Yes! That'll help me out with story telling!

How do they meet? Who loves who? I decide to draw the bat first, then a heart below it, and the woman below the heart. I smile at my current story and I think the fiery, beast enjoys how the story is going. What if, the woman can never be with bat, because the bat fears for the woman's life! Yes, a fantastic story to tell!


	8. Damian's Decision

**A/N: I do not own the Teen Titans, Paine, or any characters from Star Wars. They belong to DC Comics, Pizet, and Lucas Films, respectively.**

It's a relieving moment to know that Bruce is still alive, but we don't know how and why he is the prehistoric era. Damian says Darkseid killed him but how can Bruce be alive? The Omega beams kill anyone it comes to contact with, then how can Bruce be in the prehistoric era? I walk around Bruce's Manor and I walk to the fireplace. Kori looks at me then a picture, "Kori, what are you holding?" I wonder.

"I don't remember seeing this picture." She shows me it and she's right! It's a picture of Thomas Wayne and... Bruce? How did he get in the 1930's?

I take out the bat-shaped communicator and I try to contact Tim, but he doesn't answer. I start to run around the Manor, much to the dismay of my wife. I find Jason running towards me with an old letter. "I found a portrait of this cowboy and a letter from him!" He hands me the letter and I read it. He's in the year 1885! "I'll show you where I found the portrait." I follow him and I see the portrait. I notice the cowboy has bat on his chest with the utility belt around his shoulder.

"Let's see, he's been in the prehistoric, wild west, and 1930's. I think we can send a team to search for Bruce in these time periods. It will be easier with the wild west but we need an exact time and location!" I tell Jason while I start running to make sure members of Justice League are still here. As I descend down to the cave, I see Tim trying to the league about something. "I believe Jason and Kori have found clues to Bruce's whereabouts." I state and they give me a look of interest. "Kori found an old picture of an adult Thomas Wayne with his grown son, Bruce Wayne." I show them the picture.

"Then, I found a portrait of Bruce as a cowboy." Jason shows the portrait.

Clark smiles as we can send a team to find Bruce. "Who are we going to send to find Bruce?" Diana raises a good point.

Clark looks around, "I'll go." He offers.

"I'll join you." John adds.

"I think I should advise your trip." Tim recommends and we nod our heads. "I believe we'll start with the prehistoric times."

"Can we perform a carbon dating test? Before we send a team." I inquire.

"How long will the testing take?" Kori asks what Diana was thinking.

"For accurate results, three days." Tim admits.

"How are we going to get the samples?" J'onn wonders.

I rub my chin against my face and I begin thinking about cutting the painting out, but I would have to cut it out carefully. "I want to say cut the painting out but are there any alternatives?" I wonder but no one offers any answers. "I suppose we cut it out."

Clark walks up to the painting and he uses his eye beams to make a square around the painting. J'onn uses his morphing ability to squeeze through the outlining and pulls it out, carefully. He places it inside a box and we wait until the painting is in the carbon dating tester. I know we have to wait until three days but I know I will not be looking over the tests. "Tim, you do realize that you will be looking over the tests, right?" He nods at me, "Making sure." I leave the Batcave and I grab Kori's hand, so we can go to sleep.

When we arrive to our room, "Why did you give me credit for finding the picture?" Kori asks.

"You did find the picture and if you didn't find the pic, I wouldn't be able to tell them where to look for Bruce." I hug my beautiful wife.

After sleeping for five hours, I walk around the Manor to see what other clues Bruce left for us. Already knowing that he's in two other time periods is a good enough to know, but how are they going to locate Bruce? In what exact year are we going to find Bruce? Then again, he somehow has been skipping through time like it's nothing. I have a feeling that Darkseid has a plan for Bruce, but what? What can he have in store for Bruce?

***TT***

After Tim told us the whereabouts of my father, I decide to return to my room and look at the note that I took from Joker. I unfold the paper and I examine the writing, to discover an involvement with the League of Assassins. What' the benefit of working with a mad man? Think about it. He could betray them any minute, if he wanted to. Whatever my mother is doing, she's trying to send me a message, for sure. However, why use the Joker to enforce this message? I think my mother is going crazy. Should I tell Dick this information? If I tell him, then we'll figure a way to stop them, before Joker does something wrong, again.

Before I lay on my bed, I put away this vital information, and I rest on my bed. I let my mind succumb to my wariness. My sleep was one that was of comfort. I guess my mind was able to sleep peacefully. I hope my father will be proud of me.

A knocking sound wakes me from my slumber and it's my step-mom, "Time to wake up, Damian." I remain in my comfortable bed, unwilling to get up. "It's nine o'clock in the morning, I think it's time to wake up." She tries to sweet talk me but it's not going to work, I'm not getting out of bed. "Time to wake up or else..." What's she going to do? I hear footsteps past me but I'm not paying any attention to it. "I tried warning you." She opens the floodgates for the outside light to come in and I'm immediately blinded, but I do not get off the bed. Light won't harm me. "I swear that should've worked!" Her tone helps me get more comfortable in my bed. "Oh well, I did everything that a _normal _parent would've done, but now it's Amazonian's way."

Wha? Hey, that's my... I let my eyes open to reveal that I'm being lifted in the air and I look at my step-mom. "Are you crazy?"

"No, just a concerned mother." You have got to be kidding me right?

"_Step_mother." I correct her. "Can you let me down?"

"Tomato, _tomato_." She shrugs her shoulder. "Will you be going to go back to bed?"

"Maybe." I try to answer convincingly but she senses my deceit.

"When we enter the kitchen, I'll put you down."

***TT***

After an uneventful day, I decide to get ready before everyone else. I look at the bat computer and I discover some old tricks that the bat suit used to do. I looked further into it and I decide to incorporate it in my bat suit too! I suppose Bruce used this device for , I know I will be benefiting from this idea. I decide to put it on mine and Damian's boot. However, we cannot rely on this too much, this'll be used as a means of escape.

A few moments later, everyone enters the cave and I signal for Damian to come towards me. We walk away from everyone else, "I've added a new feature to our suits." His eyebrow raises, "It's your right boot's heal, use it only in extreme situations. That's an order."

"What does it do?" He asks.

"It'll take time it to come to you, that's the only downside to it."

"Dick, can you answer my question." He grows impatient.

"You'll find out, one day." I put my hand on his shoulder, "I hope." I mutter while he was walking to put on his Robin uniform.

After my conversation with Damian, he puts on his Robin uniform. I put on my cowl and I walk to the Batmobile. "Dick, before you go. I found a piece of paper that Joker dropped and it revealed that the League of Assassins are somehow working with Joker." He hands me a piece of paper he was talking about.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"I wanted to read it first, but I only got a chance to read it last night."

"Okay." I nod my head, "Looks like I found my lead." I smile and I turn on the engine to the Batmobile. "Make sure nothing happens to mine and Garfield's daughter, okay."

"I'll try, Dick." He walks toward Paine and Mar'i.

"Be safe, Richard." I kiss Kori before riding away to my new lead. I must get information from Joker!

***TT***

I walk towards Mar'i and Paine while putting on my hood, and Paine opens a portal to where we'll be going. We walk through it and we already see a crime taking place. I descend down to the scene and a man, a face more concealed than mine, runs away. "Paine, Mar'i; chase him from the air and cut him off. I'll follow him from the ground." I tell them on my earpiece.

Whoever this guy is, his agility is matches Dick and Jason's agility. Then I lost sight of him, "Make a right turn here!" Mar'i tells me and I do so. He stares at me and then enters a building. I can't decide if I want to enter without them, then they descend to where I'm at. I don't want to make the mistake of putting ourselves in danger.

Just as I'm making my decision, a bullet narrowly misses my head, and I grab their wrists and we start running like hell. I feel their pace matching mine so I let go and I jump through the door and the bullets stop firing at us, thankfully. "Hahaha hahaha hehehe hehehe." We hear someone laughing at us and I glare.

"Who are you?" I ask dumbly.

"Ibn, it's time to come home." Mother!

"Mother." I mutter while taking a few steps forward.

"Damian, don't." Mar'i grabs my arm, preventing me from walking away, and I look at her.

"Don't let your emotions make your decisions, she's trying to use you, Damian, and you know it." Paine logically tells me.

I blink my eyes at them unwilling to listen but what they're saying is true and I start to feel my body tremble. "I'm sorry, mother, but I will not go with you."

"Ibn, if stay with your adopted brothers, you'll be put on a hit list, and you'll eventually be killed. However, I will not fret over your death; for I have cloned another son." She confidently tells us and she signals for something or someone.

"You will know me." Appears the man I was chasing, who's wearing something reminiscent of Darth Starkiller on planet Tatoonie. "And you will fear me." He says threateningly. Damn it, no way out. I try to search for an exit but the only exit is behind us. Just bullets. The only other way is into the mouth of the demon's daughter and a desert dweller.

I kneel down and I fiddle with my right boot's heel and I feel a button. It must be the button Dick was talking about! Okay Dick, this is an extreme situation! I push the button and now I have to wait for whatever going to be our escape plan. "Just follow my lead, okay." I whisper to them and they nod at me. Now it's time to stall and see how long I will be able to stall.

"Whatever you kids are planning, it won't work against me!" The masked man yelled through Talia's disapproval.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I lie.

"Whatever our plan is, it's obviously not going to work." Mar'i adds.

"Logically, it'd be impossible for us to escape. If we go backwards, we'll be greeted by bullets, but our only option is through the demon's mouth." Paine monotones to them.

"Ibn, this is your final chance to get out of this situation." Mom warns me for one last time.

"Don't call me Ibn anymore. Call me, Damian." I state.

"Why do you prefer Damian over your true name, Ibn?"

"It's the name my true parents chose for me!"

"Your choosing that Wonder Bitch over me?"

"She's been acting more of a mother than you ever been! And don't call her that, Talia!" I glare.

"Why you worthless piece of..." My ex-mom starts.

"Mother!" Masked man speaks.

She regains her composure. "Luckily, you found the note on Joker's inner pocket. I have a feeling that Dick is on a pointless chase to find Joker." My mother smiles while I frown. Mar'i and Paine's hands and eyes glow, ready for a fight, and I signal with my hands not to fight. I know my escape plan will work, I hope. "Damian, how on Earth will you become a hero?"

"My road to becoming a hero, like my father and brothers before me. Will be a long and hard. It will take me places where I do not want to be, but I will travel down it, nonetheless. The temptation to kill will be one task that will be tough, but I know I will with support of my family, I will overcome it! And I will become the next Batman!"

"Okay, little punk." The desert dweller speaks while taking a step towards us and I hear a ring coming from the masked man's pocket. He picks it up and listens to the message disbelievingly, "What do you mean 'a swarm of bats?'" Bingo. I grab a hold of Mar'i and Paine's hands, then the bats burst through the door, giving us a chance to escape. I lead them through my mother and whoever this guy is, who are too occupied with the swarm of bats scratching them. We try to find an exit but I don't think there's an exit in here, damn it!

"Let me make an exit!" Mar'i punches open an exit for us and go through it.

"Paine, can you teleport us somewhere far from here?"

"Can you stop the bats from surrounding us?" She requests.

"Give me a sec." We stop moving and I kneel down and stop the device and the bats fly away from us. "Must've used some kind of sonar frequency to attract the bats around me." I assume.

"Okay. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Paine opens a portal and we go through it. We find ourselves in a different part of town.

Mar'i slaps me first, then Paine joins her. "What was that for!" I demand.

"Next time, don't scare us like that again!" Paine yells at me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. It's just, I don't know what happened to me back there." I jumble my words around and I walk away from them. I look at to the sky, "You two realize that I'm a target now." I look at the ground, then I turn around. "Are you girls alright?" I ask courteously.

"A few scratches here and there, but I'll be fine." Mar'i responds convincingly.

"Same here." Paine responds, "How did you know that the bats were going to be our escape route?"

"Well, the bats were kind of a hint in of itself when I heard that masked man yell." I tell her.

"What was the point of holding our hands?" Mar'i asks.

Honestly I'm thrown off by her question, "To make sure you girls didn't get lost in the swarm of bats." They nod understandingly.

I face away from them; I put my left foot on the ledge of the unfamiliar building and I start thinking about what my mother has revealed. She already cloned another version of myself. What was the whole point of creating me, if there was a possibility of me joining my father and brothers in fighting crime? Will my clone be able to be persuaded into fighting crime? I hope so. However, a sudden realization emerges that I put Paine and Mar'i's lives in danger. I know the assassins will use this information and capture them alive, forcing me to rescue them, and possibly facing my clone, in the process. After a moment of despair, I smile at the fact that I just called Diana my real mother, but it feels right calling her that! Despite being with her for about a week, there are some things that a mother does to let her son know that he feels loved, no matter what. Whenever Talia hugged me, I felt a sense of a forced hug more than a loved hug. But when Diana hugs me, I always feel the love in her hugs. I guess you right after all Dick, she does treat us like we're her kids.

"Paine, we're in Jump City." Mar'i interrupts my thought process.

I look around and Mar'i's right! This isn't Gotham! "Why are we in Jump City?" I question while realizing we're on a tower, on an island! What kind of base is this?

"I was feeling a little rushed and I must've selected Jump City. Let's go inside and rest for a couple of minutes. A nice cup of tea is what I need to get us back to Gotham." We agree and enter this tower we're standing on.

"Welcome to Titans' Tower!" Mar'i tells me and I smile while taking off my hood.

"Damian, before I get tea, I have to tell you something." Paine states, looking a little sad.

"What is it?"

"I have a feeling, that the man who killed you in my dream, was your clone."

"Paine, that was just a dream!" I try to comfort her.

"Everything felt so real, Damian!" Tears flow down Paine's cheeks. I see objects floating in the air, then they softly land as Paine is able to calm herself down. "Just be careful, okay." Paine walks to the kitchen and I'm left with a possibility of death in my short future.

I look at Paine, who is making her tea, "Mar'i?" I whisper.

"Yes?"

"Has Paine told a dream that took place in the future before?"

She looks to the right corner of her eye, then she closes her eyes. "Yes, she has."

"What did she tell the vision was about?"

"That Grandpa Bruce was going to die in an explosion, when he came back from the dead." My eyes widen from this discovery.

"When did she tell you?"

"About... a year ago."

I'm starting to think that Paine's dream was a vision, I guess she can't control when she gets these visions. More over, her prediction that my father could destroy Gotham or the world, when he comes back from the dead; is scary! I hope her vision doesn't turn into reality!

I hear doors open and I look to see who it is, "Aren't you two young ladies supposed to be in Gotham?" I see a Latina in a tee-shirt and sweats. "You must be Robin." She points out the obvious.

"Sarah this is Damian and Damian this is Sarah. Auntie Sarah, where's Uncle Vic?"

"He barely went out to patrol with Wally and Roy." She smiles.

"What time is it?" I wonder, I kinda forgot.

"It's 10:30 P.M., why?"

"So, it's 1:30 A.M. in Gotham."

"Paine, are you done with your tea?"

"Give me a minute." She responds and I nod at her. She sips her last part of tea, "Ready. Good bye, Aunt Sarah and tell Uncle Vic 'I said hi!'" She tells the grown woman and opens a portal back to Gotham.

"Bye, Auntie Sarah!" Mar'i hugs her and goes into the portal.

"Good bye." I wave, then enter the portal. Last is Paine and the portal closes behind us. I quickly stretch and we look for a spot to observe from. After two hours of patrol, we go back to the Batcave, and call it a night.

Before I take off my uniform, I have to check something. I go on the Bat computer and I hack into the League of Assassins database. I open the folder containing a list of names that have a bounty on them, then I see my name with the highest bounty on my head. However, the picture shows me in my Robin uniform. I close my eyes, confirming my earlier statement. I feel a hand touch my shoulder and I look up to see... Tim. "You okay?" I refuse to speak to him, "Why do you do this to me? I try to be nice to you and you treat like my shit! What's your problem?"

"My problem?" I yell. "My problem is that my father still accepted you as his Robin, even when I entered my father's life!" I shout. "Then I just learned from the woman who gave birth to me that I was useless! Now she created another version of me. I'm banished from the al Ghul family and branded a traitor! Now my head is put up for bounty!" I walk away from Tim and I sit down against the cave's wall. I start letting tears flow down my cheeks, "To make matters worse, I figured out that I will be killed by my clone!" Everything after that sentence becomes gibberish and Tim looks at me with awe.

After I finish my rant, I feel Tim hug me, "Everything's gonna be alright... little bro." Little bro, I like the sound of that.


	9. The Last Conversation

**A/N: I do not own Teen Titans, they belong to DC Comics**

The whole world has been going to hell since Darkseid invaded Earth and keeping Jump City peaceful is a tough task. I worry over my daughter getting hurt during this invasion, but Kori tells me not to worry about it. I wonder how I will react when Mar'i starts dating? However, I worry about my parents. They're fighting the armies of Darkseid and my mind tells me to call my dad.

"Bruce, let me go with you!" I shout at him through the communicator.

"No, you have to stay and help Tim and Jason!"

"I think Tim and Jason can help themselves!" I spat back.

"That's not the point!"

"Bruce, I think you guys need more help. I can get Starfire, Raven, Cyborg and Changeling to come over there along with me." I try to convince him.

"It's only going to be Clark and I! That's a decision the league accepted!"

"Why isn't Diana going with you?"

"Clark and I got this! There's no need to worry! Don't worry about me, Dick. Worry about your family. Good bye, my son."

"Bye, dad." I hang up the conversation. "I love you and be safe."


	10. Attack of the Unknown!

**A/N: I do not own Teen Titans or Paine; they belong to DC Comics and Pizet, respectively.**

After waiting for two long days, Tim finally announced to everyone,"The carbon dating results just came in and it says Bruce is around the year 50,000 BCE (Before Common Era)." Tim alerts a team of time travelers that consisted of Superman, Green Lantern team of John Stewart and Hal Jordan, and Booster Gold. "Are you guys ready?" Asks Tim and they nod and leave for the Watchtower. After the team left, Tim walked towards Damian, much to everyone's delight. "How are you feeling, Damian?" Tim ask concerned.

"I feel better." Replied the developing Wayne.

"No more fits for today or tomorrow?" Tim tried making Damian smile or laugh, but he wasn't going to show those emotions.

"Why are you asking these questions to me, Tim?" Damian cut through the crap and asked.

"Nothing bothering you?"

"I feel fine, I just had to get some things off my chest." The young Wayne found himself reminiscing of the previous night, when he poured his rage for his unexpected change in a course of a week. However, he couldn't deny that the change was for the better.

"I think you should tell Dick about the bounty situation." Tim suggested.

Damian pondered the thought of telling Dick. It was going to be a hard thing to do, how was Dick going to react to news of a clone? A bounty? Despite these lingering questions, Damian's body walked towards Dick. "Hey Dick, I've got something to tell you." The boy said with uncertainty.

Dick looked at his little brother with confusion, "What happened?" His tone of one of worry.

"Talia tried to convince me to return to her and the League of Assassins, and I refused. Now, I'm up for bounty, then she told me she has cloned another son of Bruce, but I don't know how she did it or what he looks like." The boy spoke with a sense of remorse. "I don't want to put your's and Garfield's daughters in danger, so I can no longer work with them. I'm sorry, Dick." A tone of defeat was present in Damian's voice.

Dick was shocked by his brother's admission, he didn't know how to comfort the little boy, but he knew that he had to be there for Damian. "It looks like you're working with me, again. I'll have Paine and Mar'i work their parents." Although Dick wanted Damian to work on his leadership skills. Despite this, he understood the only way to get Damian, was to capture their daughters, and force Damian or Dick or Garfield to search for their daughters. Which would put them in a huge disadvantage, when you think about it. The assassins could set up a trap and kill off whoever goes after them. "How do you know you're up for bounty?"

"I hacked into the League of Assassins' database."

"Is there a way to get you off that list?"

"I don' believe so, but I wish there was a way, though."

Dick walked away from the developing boy and informed Kori, Rachel, and Garfield of the sudden change of plans. "Are you guys okay with this?" They nodded at Dick and said man let the cowl take over, and he went inside the batmobile. He revved up the engine, so Damian could get the idea that it was time to leave, but Damian was feeling a bit trolled by Dick.

"Thanks for the tea, Alfred." Damian placed the finished passion-flower tea on the wooden table and sprinted to the Batmobile. "You know, you can just say, 'Let's get inside the batmobile.'" Damian stated while securing his seat belt and putting on his hood.

***TT***

I saw my dad and my cr... er... cousin, yeah, my cousin, leave for Gotham. Why doesn't he want to patrol with Paine and I? Did we do something wrong? I'm pretty sure we didn't do anything wrong. We were ambushed! There wasn't anything we could do about it!

However, his mom did say something about a "clone", so there must be something I could research. I don't have enough time, we'll probably leave in about ten minutes. That doesn't give me time. Let's see, Mar'i, your dad and granddad are the best detectives in the world, what would they do if they heard about a clone from the League of Assassins? I do know that my time window is growing smaller and smaller by the minute, I suppose I'll start on the batcomputer, first.

I start my short walk to the computer, "C'mon, Robin! Crime waits for no man!" An enthusiastic Jason yelled at Tim.

"It's Red Robin!" Tim shouted.

"Yum!" Jason responds, I almost join him, and Tim smacks his face.

"Bye, Jason. Bye, Tim." I wave to them.

"Bye, bye, kiddo." Jason gives me a high-five while Tim returns the waving motion. They enter Jason's 1978 blue, convertible viper and they ride off to Gotham, as well. That gives me now about seven minutes to hack something.

The computer is sleeping, I see Damian has his own "profile", but he has a password. Let me guess "Kittenzrulez1987" and I am correct, a little too easy Damian. I look into the "recent places" under the "favorites" section and I see Damian's previous history. I have an idea where to start, but everything else, I have to figure out. I start working my hacking magic and I discover that there's really a clone of him, I thought his mom was lying but how did they make the clone? If they created Damian through artificial means, then they must've had extra DNA leftover. More over, I must continue of digital search for the clone before I lose all the time I have. There's over ten thousand folders in this database of there's, looks like I got to look by keyword, then.

I type in the word "clone" into the find section and I get one folder saying "Project Beyond" with a description of cloning a superhero and another saying "Whale Clone Test" without any description, much like most these folders. As much as these cloning projects sound interesting to me, they aren't the ones that I should be investigating into. I know there's something in this cloning search that would become valuable to me. I just know it.

"It's time to go patrolling!" I hear my mom and I know that my time is up. I back track all the way to where I had started and I prevent myself from the deleting the information. I have a feeling that Damian will be looking further into this, as will I.

"I'm ready, mom!" I fake a smile to her and Raven opens a portal to the patrol site and we enter.

***TT***

We enter Gotham without any trouble and I start getting a bad feeling in my stomach, like someone is spying on us. Who would spy on us? I wonder if Talia sent out my clone to spy on me, to get a sense of what I'm like. I see a quick flash of red in an alleyway, I know Dick didn't see it, but I did. It has to be that desert dweller! Dick is too busy looking at the road to see him but he is out here, that means the assassins' base is nearby too. The only place I know of that's an assassin base is the one in the Middle East, Talia never showed me any other bases located throughout the world. I think she had a feeling something like this would happen. Things are about to... I see the desert dweller land on the hood of the batmobile, wrecking the car, and us being the passengers inside; are treated to being lifted about twenty feet in the air while being inside the car and we brace for impact against the cold cement. "Robin! Are you okay?" I hear Dick and my instincts tell me to crawl out of the wrecked batmobile.

"I think this one's going on his tab." I try to lighten up the mood but I know this guy won't be an easy opponent. He doesn't look unfazed from landing on the car, I glare kind of knowing this guy isn't a normal human being. Then again, I think most of this Bat family's opponents aren't normal humans. We ready in our fighting stance and the dweller looks at us without getting into a fighting stance. I want to charge but I know this is apart of this guy's plan, so I take out my batarang, and I launch it at him. What!

He caught the batarang! I know I threw that projectile at him, coming in at about 144 km/h (90 mph)! Even with proper training, no one would try to catch something going that fast without any kind of gloves to help cushion the impact of the projectile. Dick throws smoke bombs at the guy and we start running towards him. However, I didn't see him react to the smoke but he just stood there, I don't think he even tried to wipe away the smoke away from his vision.

By the time we reach him, we uppercut him, and our fists just bounced off him! "Uh, I don't think that worked!" I dumbly tell Dick who could tell that our opponent was unfazed by the attack.

"We gotta take him down!" Dick yelled back and I nod at his response.

The masked man raises his arm and grabs something and like a whip snapping, his arm chops the sword that he grabbed from its sheath. We roll away from the heavy attack and I take out my bo staff. He looks at me, then he looks at Dick, who has two combat batarangs. He runs towards me and tries to slice me in half, but I roll to my right and I whack him behind the knees. He trips up but he quickly gets back up.

He faces us and I didn't realize how tall he was. His height creates a shadow over us and something has to give. I run towards him and he whips his sword at me but I block with my bo staff. Dick jumps over my stalemate and hits the jaw of the dweller. He just looks at Dick and head butts him. Dick takes a few steps back, obviously the head butt hurt Dick more than it did to the dweller. I push the staff up, causing the his sword to be launched upwards, and I try to hit him, but he catches my attack and I try to get my hand back to no avail. "You should've left with your mother, when you had the chance." Dweller tells me grimly.

"So you're just going to collect the bounty for yourself?"

"There was no bounty for your head." Impossible! I check on the database! "Talia knew you were going to be checking the bounty list and she anticipated this, so we set up a trap for you." He raises his sword, I saw the reflection of the light coming off of it. I ready my staff and I time so that it'll block the killing hack, but the attack never came.

***BOOSH!***

He shoves me to the ground but I see Dick attempting to pull the heavy weight towards him. Unfortunately, he didn't even budge, but he pulls the rope from the batclaw. Dick went flying towards him, fortunately Dick recovered quickly and he threw one smoke pellet at him. The smoke is blinds my vision but I know where the dweller is, so I crawl backwards, then I roll back on my feet. I see that Dick is lying on a car, unconscious. Great, I have to face this guy alone. This isn't going to be easy, many opponents have one weakness that I could expose or adapt to, but this guy is doesn't have one weakness that I can take advantage of!

He walks towards me menacingly and let's see, what can I use to my advantage? He swings his sword at me and I block with the staff. I deflect the attack and I hit him in the face with the staff, then I jump back to give me room to breathe. He doesn't show any signs of pain, great, what is this guy's skin made of? Steel?

I charge towards him and slide under him, causing him to miss his jab, and I trip him up with my legs. I get up first and I unleash on him with the staff; I use the staff for good use as I'm able to hit him for about fifty times until he slashes his sword at me. I block the slash but my staff breaks into two, on the sheer force force he delivers, and I fall backwards. Not the best spot to try to block any attacks. "Now, DIE!" He drives the sword to me and I close my eyes, again.

***BOOM! BOOM!***

I see the sword dropping on the ground and I see Tim lead with his bo staff at chest of the dweller. Tim rolls away, then Jason shoots a few rounds from his pistols, which push the dweller a few steps back. I don't think the rounds penetrated that tough skin, though. "Thanks." I tell Tim.

"Shut up and fight!" I would normally smile at a comment like this, but this guy is too strong or tough.

"This guy isn't a normal villain, he's like Superman, but without the Kryptonite." I alert him.

"Fantastic! Just when _he _leaves, this guy appears out of thin air." Tim tries to laughs about it.

"Are you two Robins done talking?" Jason questions us.

We charge to where Jason and the dweller are at, we try to help Jason, but this guy is reversing and countering our attacks. This isn't going to end well.

I try to hit him but he twists my arm around and kicks it. Ouch! I'm going to have a bruise later tonight, for sure. Tim and Jason aren't faring well against him. I think we need to retreat, before something bad happens to us. I see a line attach to the dweller, then Dick drags himself to him and kicks him. This causes the dweller to fly towards a building. "Retreat!" He throws a smoke pallet at him, then one below his feet. We follow suit and disappear in the smoke.

We meet up on a local skyscraper, I wipe the sweat coming off my hair, and I look at everyone else who's addressing their own wounds. "Did we seriously get our asses whooped?" Jason requests.

"No one has to know." Dick responds.

"Know about what?" Jason sees what Dick is going to do.

"Me either." Dick takes out the bat shaped communicator, "Alfred."

"Yes, Batman." He says in his butler voice.

"I want four ice baths to be ready by the time we come back to base."

"Yes, sir. I assume you want to return to base right now?" Dick nods his head.

"I think I'm going to get my car later on, during the day." Jason states. "What are we waiting for, shouldn't we go back to base?"

"I'm waiting for the batplane to arrive." Dick responses to Jason's complaining, then the plane in question arrives, and we are relieved.

"How are we going to fit, it looks like it can only sit three people." I ask.

"1, 2, 3. Nose goes." I see Dick and Jason quickly lift up their fingers to touch their noses. I look them confused as Tim looks pissed at them. "Sorry Tim, but Damian is going to sit on your lap." Dick laughs at him...

"What!" I yell at them. "Oh hell no!" Then I feel a jolt of lighting contact my neck and I black out.

***TT***

We arrive at the batcave, then Damian recovers from Jason's taser attack. "Okay, who tased me?" He demands. I begin to laugh much to his rage, but his body remembers what happened earlier in the patrol. "Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Damian holds his body together.

"Lil' bro, it's time for an ice bath!" I yell and I begin to take off the batsuit. After I take off the suit, I slowly go inside the tub full of ice and water. "Br..." I make contact with the water.

Slowly but surely, I let my body go fully submerge with the water. I look to see Alfred watching over us, making sure we don't go under water and drown or freeze to death, so I close my eyes. I let my body relax into the ice and I feel my body recovering from my little beef with the car that I landed on during the fight with that mysterious guy. I wonder if Damian knows who this guy is? "This is super cold." Speaking of Damian.

"Stop being a cat." I tell him without opening my eyes. "Embrace the cold, refreshing yet brutal, ajuua." Hehe, I made myself laugh, then Tim and Jason couldn't prevent themselves from chuckling.

"The water is too cold!" He yells back.

"We're sorry, princess." Jason adds and ,with the exception of Damian, we laugh harder.

"Okay, fine!" Damian shouts, "Leroy Jenkins!" He quickly goes inside the tub without pacing himself. "Oh my goodness! This water is too cold!"

"That's the whole point of an ice bath!" Tim states.

"I'm never taking another ice bath, ever again."

When Damian finally comforts himself with the freezing water, I realize it's been about fifteen minutes, so I have to get out of there. It would be unwise to stay in there for too long. "How long has Damian been in the tub?" I ask Alfred.

"Seven minutes, that's without complaining how cold the water is." I nod and I walk to said kid.

"Little bro," He looks at me, "time to get out of the tub." The way he gets out of the tub reminds of a cat. "Your whiskers wet?" I chuckle while he sticks his tongue out. Tim throws me two towels and I hand the other towel to Damian.

After we dry off and put normal clothes on (cause we just had our boxers on, no one wants to be in their clothes while in an ice bath), I see everyone else arriving back from patrol. "Dudes, why are you guys here early?" Changeling questions.

I look around and I come up with a white lie, "We were having our 'brother bonding time.'" I hope he doesn't know that I'm kind of lying, but I know it won't get passed the two empaths in the cave.

I see a big smile coming across from him, "Sure it is." Luckily, he drops it and walks away. I think I know what he's thinking, he's going to ask Raven, 'if I'm telling the truth and see what information I'm holding back.'

Alfred walks towards me and hands me a phone, "It's Oracle, sir."

I receive the phone, "What happened, Babs?"

"I think everyone is suspicious that they haven't seen Bruce and Diana for a long time, so GCPD is looking into it. My dad is coming over to the Manor in the morning, about eight to nine o'clock."

"How do you know this information?" I ponder.

"Remember Sam?" Her boyfriend.

"He's apart of the district attorney, right?"

"Bingo, so I looked into a couple of files and I discovered that they were suspecting you're the reason for Bruce and Diana's disappearance. They're already making a case against you."

"So I gotta fool your father into believing that I am too incompetent to kill them?"

"Correct, so have a good night."

"Thanks for the heads up, Babs, good night." I hang up the phone, "Everyone come here." I say somewhat coldly but they gather around me, nonetheless. "I just discovered from Barbara, that GCPD is suspecting me of 'Bruce and Diana's disappearance.' So we need to trick them into proving, without a doubt that I didn't do it and I give them the impression that I wouldn't be benefiting from his disappearance." I quickly pause. "So Damian, Mar'i, and Paine; I need you three to be out of the house and somewhere else." I look at Alfred, "Can you think of a place that would be low-profile for them to hang out at?"

Alfred shrugs his shoulders but Paine's flashbulb lights up, "We could go to a poetry café."

"Sounds like a good idea." I smile; I just hope that Damian doesn't get any stupid ideas along the way. "Jason, your car is somewhere in Gotham City?" He nods, "Take Tim with you and retrieve your car, and maybe go out to eat and make sure you save something for the rest us." I suggest to him and I look at Raven, Star, and Changeling. "We're going to have to trick Gordon, but the idea I'm using is the one Bruce used when he was beginning his career as Batman."

"Which would be?" Raven wants me to answer.

"We act drunk." I spit out.

"You sure this is going to work?" Changeling asks.

"If we sell that I wouldn't be benefiting from his disappearance, then it will work. No problems. Garfield, are your holograms rings still working properly?" He nods confidently. "Can you do this Raven?" I ask, wondering if her emotions would allow her to put up a perception of how the elite class acts.

"It's going to be a stretch, but I'll manage." Garfield puts his hand on his wife's shoulder.

"It's settled then, everyone knows what they're doing in the morning?" No one disagrees, "Let's get our rest, first. We'll wake up about 7:30 AM."


	11. Trickery

I would like to thank everyone for reading my story!

IHatetheNew52: "Dweller" is the man who was standing next to Talia during chapter 8, I'll expand on him later on, and Wonder Woman is currently leading the Justice League.

**A/N: I do not own the Teen Titans, they belong to DC Comics.**

I don't see the whole point of investigating this any further, I think Dick was over in Jump City, so accusing him of murder is ridiculous! He wouldn't dare do it! Dick isn't that type of person, I know it. He wouldn't turn on the man who saved from his from a life of depression! "Is the district attorney really serious about this?"

"About what?" One of the detectives looks at me.

"Are we seriously going to question, Dick? This isn't right!"

"Why are you defending the young man?"

"Isn't it a little odd that we're going to be questioning someone who was in **Jump City**, according to the DA's time table?" I burst out.

"Commissioner, with all due respect. Don't you think it's a little suspicious that Dick just happened to be in Jump City when Bruce and his wife disappeared?" A dark haired inspector tried to put doubt into the case, but I'm not going to buy it.

"He loves Bruce to death, he couldn't possibly commit such a crime like that." I respond.

"Well." I notice Wayne Manor is getting bigger and bigger as we drive close to it. "We're going to be the judge of that."

We exit the vehicle and we start walking in the gravel pavement leading to the grand doors. I see the doors open with three kids, about nine years old, and Alfred leaving with them, but he holds the doors open for us. "Thank you." He nods as I'm the only one who thanks the former MI-5 agent.

"Master Richard, you have company!" Alfred alerted the young Grayson.

"Ah..." He walks wobbly, he's drunk... Where have I seen this before? I swear I seen this before! "Thank you, Alfred." He somewhat slurs, then leads us, without slipping or falling, to where the guests sit. Luckily there's enough room to fit all four of us (Detectives Frank, Geoff, Maria, and I). He puts his hands to his face with a sudden realization, "Where are my manners? I'm so sorry for being so rude to my guests!" I know I've seen this somewhere before, just can't put my finger on it. He walks away from us, "Yo, Garfield!"

"What?" The man in question responds.

"Make sure the wine and... _BURP!_ Haha. I made myself laugh." He looks like he lost what he saying.

"And what else do I bring?" His friend responds

It brings back to what he was telling his friend, "Make sure the wine and the glasses make it safely here, we have company!" After waiting for a minute for said friend to bring the wine, he arrives with two other females. I see Kori walking up to Dick and letting herself wrap around his body. "I believe y'all know Kori, my wife." He spins her around.

"What a trophy wife." Maria whispers, I don't blame her for thinking that, but I can not deny that she is beautiful.

"This is Garfield and his wife, Rachel." He points with the bottle to his friends.

"Please to meet you." I speak for the group.

He slaps his face, again, he just forget in the span of a minute that he was trying to convince us of drinking on the job. "Where are my manners? Would my guests like a glass of wine?"

"No thanks, Dick. However, we do have a few questions to ask you." I decide to jump into questioning.

"Well... _BURP! _Hahaha!" Definitely drunk. "It depends on the questions." His face moves from left to right as he says his sentence, I wonder if he won't be charged. I don't want to be the one to charge him of any type of crime.

"Where were you on the day that Bruce and his wife, Diana, disappeared?" Detective Frank asks the first of series of questions.

"Lets see..." He looks up to try to remember where he was, it's going to take all the brain power to remember where he was, especially in his drunken state. "Oh, I remember! I was in Jump City." He genuinely answers.

"Why were you in Jump City?" Maria shoots another question.

He looks like he was looking for a fastball when she threw him a curveball, he looked shook. "I share a house with friends and we raise our children together." He said angrily, maybe it's his drunk rage kind of getting to him. I see his wife shift her body so that she is sitting on his lap, and I can see the look of disgust on Maria.

After a minute goes by, I decide to throw Dick a softball question. "Did Bruce tell you where he went?"

"No." A simple answer that I wanted, nothing too complicated, but I feel the glares of Frank and Geoff.

Geoff looks around and tries to come up with a reasonable question so that we don't anger our "prime suspect". I see Dick's eyes starting to force him to sleep, looks like he drank a little too much, so he's drifting into some kind of sleep or daydreaming about being in a better place than this. His eyes eventually win and he lands on the breast of his wife. If it wasn't my sense of professionalism, I would've laughed at this moment. Then, it came back to me, I've his plan before.

He's not trying to fool me, but he's trying to fool and disgust my partners. Bruce used this trick on me before, but I was a lieutenant and my ex-wife tagged along. She was disgusted how Bruce was acting, that took the police department's eyes off him; it's the lengths people go to hide their secrets, outsmarted by the Batman, once again.

"Mr. Grayson! Mr. Grayson!" Geoff yells trying to get the attention of a knocked out Grayson. "How unprofessional and rude!" He shouts.

"Geez, I wonder how this kid even bought out Haley." Frank remarks.

"Right on, Richard!" Garfield raises his glass, "But I think you missed your target." I notice his head is laying down on his wife's lap.

"Are you just going to let him lay there? And are you going to let him rest on your chest?" Her frustration radiates towards them. Rachel glares at her, she's probably of those _drunks _that are prone to violence, and Kori's cheeks shout red in embarrassment. "Ugh! I am leaving this excuse of a house!" Maria storms away.

"Richard, Richard! One of our guests just left!" She tried waking him up but he wouldn't respond to her concerns.

Geoff readjusts his sitting position and I could feel that he is getting uncomfortable with the situation. "I told you we should've talked to him somewhere else." I whisper and he understands that I'm right.

Dick starts to wake and his head rubs against his wife's chest and Geoff decides to join Maria outside. Two down, one more to go. With the help of my peripheral vision, I see Frank loosen the tight tie from his neck. I wonder how they're going to push Frank to the edge? What's it going to take for him to leave the manor so I can continue the questioning? I see Dick biting the neck of Kori and the she reacts to his seduction, finally, pushes Frank over the edge. He quickly walks out of the room and I wait until I hear the sound of the door shut.

***SLAM!***

I stand up and walk towards a window to figure out if I can see them from this perspective. I can see them perfectly from here, excellent. I they're talking about how rude these guys were during the questioning. I turn to face them, "You can drop the act, now." I tell them. "I know you are... Batman."

"H-how'd you know?" He stampers.

"I always had a feeling that Bruce was the first Batman, but I could never get the evidence to support my claim. I found it a little strange that Bruce was drinking at every event, like he was trying to hide something. Then, I remembered the day that Batman saved my son, but I didn't have my glasses on nor did he have his cowl on. You could say that I was virtually blind, but I could make out the outline of a person. Whenever I tried matching anyone to that outline, I couldn't get a match, until I looked at Bruce. He matched that exact outline, from that moment on, I would pretend not to know who was under the cowl. Fast forward a couple years, and I see you have the cowl on; I can tell the difference in height between you and Bruce, you're obviously shorter than he is."

"Again, my height gives me away!" Dick snaps his fingers, he's done acting drunk.

"Were you really trying to trick me with the whole 'being drunk' routine? It worked with Bruce, but I already know how the trick works."

"Yeah, but when I saw your friends come in, it looked like the perfect opportunity to fool them into thinking I was incompetent to commit such a crime. Why is the DA so interested in me? I know you weren't coming to ask questions, so why am I being charged."

"I don't know what's wrong with the DA anymore, after Harvey got the sulfuric acid splashed on his face, they're just accusing anyone of anything. Ha, did you know that they were trying to accuse Diana, too. She was with him, well according to the DA. Frickin' ridiculous!" I spout out. "The only person I trust from the DA is Sam, he was the only person trying to dismiss the accusations of Diana and you, but he only was able to convince them to drop the case against Diana. How did..." I realize he could've hacked into the DA, not surprising. I know it's a crime, but I don't have the evidence nor do I want to charge him of a crime. "Nevermind." I retract my question. I walk away from them, "Have a nice day."


	12. Good Bye, For Now

**A/N: I do not own Teen Titans or Paine, they belong to DC Comics and Pizet, respectively.**

After spending six grueling months, in and out of the past looking for Bruce went in vain. We looked for him all over the past and we couldn't find him anywhere! I'm confident in Tim's calculations but what happened for us not to find Bruce? However, it seems like he left us traces of his presence, even left us a journal. When I was reading the journal, somehow he forgot who he was and he was connecting the dots to his past or future or whatever. The main point, he was piecing the events before he, stupidly decided to fight Darkseid, wounded him and was hit by the Omega Beams. Where else do we look? We've already been through the beginning of civilization, time of the pirates, the Salem Witch Trials, the Wild West, and the 1930s. What's one place we haven't been?

Then again, during our travel, we found traces of Omega Energy in the beginning of humanity, then we found out the traces of Omega Energy was starting to become apparent. Why would Darkseid send Bruce through the past, what plan does he have for Bruce? I don't know what to think of anymore, this stuff is hard. More over, I don't want Dick, Jason, Tim, and, especially, Damian to get involved in finding out where Bruce is. I hope he is safe, wherever he is.

A loud ringing, coming from my earpiece, awakens me from my thoughts. I remind myself that we're in Metropolis, I raise my hand to my ear, "Clark, here." I answer to whoever is going to be talking on the other side.

"Yo, Clark, Batman is in the Watchtower!" Cyborg yells.

"J'onn, can you teleport us to the Watchtower?" I ask the green Martian but I do not get a response from him. "Vic, what's going on up there?" I sort of demand.

"J'onn is trying to keep Batman in a perimeter, he's not acting like the Batman we know. I'm trying my best to beam you guys up." After waiting for about a minute or so, a beam of light surrounds us, and the next thing I know, we are in the Watchtower. "He's in the core of the Watchtower." I nod and I carry Vic and we fly to the core.

Wait a minute! "You said it wasn't the same Batman we know, right?"

"Yeah, why?" He responds.

"Remember the amount of Omega Energy that we found?" I ask my team of time travelers.

"Yes... You don't mean Darkseid was using Bruce as a..." John tries to comprehend.

"Weapon." I finish John' sentence. "I don't think Darkseid had any intention of killing Bruce! That also explains why Bruce was working hard to remember who he was. But where would be the intended final destination be?" I recall from the pages from his journal and I start flying a little faster with everyone following suit.

"How are we going to stop him, without hurting him or him dying on us?" Hal shouts, trying to catch up to me.

"I think we have to come up with that on the fly." Booster Gold replies.

"I don't think it's going to be that easy. He knows most of our weaknesses, so coming up with something on the fly is going to be hard, if we're already incapacitated, that is." I tell them.

"Then it's a game of cat and mouse." Hal responds.

By the time we reach the core, we see some members of the League and J'onn laying on the ground. We check on the members to find out they're alright, no major injuries, thankfully. However, we have to make sure he doesn't reach the teleportation room! We enter with extreme caution and Bruce is sitting in the fetal position. "Get away from me!" He hears a squeaky noise so he shouts at us.

"Bruce, we want to help you." I reassuringly tell him.

"I am a weapon!" He yells.

"We can help through this." Hal talks for us.

"Can you stop the Omega Energy from destroying our world?" So that's why Bruce was spared.

"Yes we can!" Vic speaks up.

Bruce's expression changes, it went from fearful to murderous, and he lifts himself in his fighting stance. There's something different about him, he wasn't this tall before, his body is all metal, his left eye contains a terminator like red-eye, and robotic tendrils appear from under his arms. His voice illuminates fear, "Forgive me." He rushes to us and dodge his attack. A little too close. What are you holding? His hand is holding a metallic sword, I fall to my knees. "Clark!" John tries to rush to my side but Bruce swings the sword to my right, preventing John from advancing any further. I think the sword has an abundant supply of Kryptonite. Not great, I think I can run, but beyond that, I can't do anything else. We have to destroy that sword so we can get Bruce out of this trace!

"John, Hal, get rid of the sword! It has Kryptonite!" I get up and I start running like hell. Let's see, what would Batman do in this situation? You since he doesn't have any powers, I think there's a win button on the utility belt, crap, that's not going to work for us! However, I do believe there's a gadget on the belt that'll help me out. "Vic," He nods at me, "Get the utility belt off of Bruce and give it to me!"

"What do you want me to do, Superman?" Booster Gold flies over to me.

"Protect me." I request a heavy order but he understands that I can't fight with the Kryptonite affecting my powers.

Vic waits for the opportunity to grab the belt. Then he finally sees one so he uses his hand to remotely get the belt, but he is thwarted by Bruce, it's like he had a radar sensor or something that detects metal? If it wasn't for that sword having a huge amount of Kryptonite, I could use my x-ray vision to see who or what is controlling Bruce. He's knows our weaknesses, so why does he choose to fight us using mysterious weapons?

John and Hal finally get the sword away from him and John uses the ring to form a cup around the sword so I work my x-ray vision, and I see someone on Bruce's back, but who is this guy? He doesn't look like anyone I've seen recently, however we must get this thing or whatever off of Bruce. "Booster, where is all of time held?" I ponder.

"Vanishing Point," he realizes the dangerous amount of Omega Energy that has built up, "if he reaches it, we're all done!" He whispers to me.

"He can not leave the Watchtower." I confirm.

While I was talking to Booster, Bruce, or whoever this guy is, has knocked out Hal and Vic. I can't allow him to reach John so I fly towards him and I try to punch him but he dodges my punch. I think I went about 45% of what I can do, I don't want to hurt Bruce, but I don't want him to reach Vanishing Point! He then takes out a small amount of Kryptonite, "Bruce, remember who we are!" I shield my eyes like a human shields his eyes from looking at the sun. Although Bruce carries around a small piece of Kryptonite, it's not going to affect me, unless he were to stab me with it or if he had a higher amount of it, that'll stop me from using my powers; both major problems.

However, Bruce starts running towards me leading with the Kryptonite and I don't have enough time to out maneuver him, but a rope wraps him up and I see the rope tighten up. "Bruce, that's our best friend!" Diana yells and boy am I glad to see Diana come to my rescue. "Bruce, remember..."

***WT***

"Bruce, remember..." The woman in gold, red, white, and blue tells me as I drop the small amount of Kryptonite. Remember what? What am I supposed to remember? One minute I'm in the fetal position crying about the Omega Energy, the next thing I'm fighting three people who I would not classify as allies. So I give her a confused look, "Bruce, I'm your wife." No, I do not have a wife...

However, her voice soothes me, "Diana..." I mutter but I fall to my knees... "Stop forcing me to remember!" I shout.

"Bruce, Richard has taken up the cowl, Jason is still Red Hood, Tim became Red Robin, Damian is Richard's Robin, and I think I heard Damian call me 'mom'." I see the smile form on her face but the grip hasn't let loosened.

W-who are these people? I start banging my head against the hard floor, trying to follow Lord Darkseid's orders... No, my sons are still fighting crime! I stop hitting my head and a small smile forms on my face, knowing Dick has taken the cowl and Damian is finally getting along with my wife... No! I should not continue listening to her! No, I have to listen to Lord Darkseid... No, listen to what your wife and best friend are telling you! "Diana, loosen the lasso on me." I request but she doesn't seem to trust how long I can retain control. "We have to get Hyper-Adapter off me!"

"Hyper-Adapter?" Diana repeats.

"He's one of Darkseid's servants." I feel the lasso loosen and I start trying to rip apart this being that took over my body. With every tear from this robotic feeling, I am one step closer to getting back my freedom, however this guy isn't going to give up anytime soon. I start feeling electrical shocks going to my spine, hands, and neck; I almost stop trying to take back my freedom until the shock therapy stops.

"I got you, Bruce!" I look up to see that Vic has hacked into Hyper-Adapter's mainframe.

"Booster, get ready to open a time line to a random place." I hear Clark, who along with Vic and Diana help me rip him off my body.

For a brief moment, I feel the Omega Energy overload, crap! I must've let it build too much while I was time traveling. I realize there's only one way to let the Omega Energy dissipate, my heart has to stop beating for it to dissipate, even if it means I die for sure! I can't let myself be Darkseid's tool for destruction! I'm sorry, Diana.

Then, I feel the robotic limps pull away from me. I'm free but I'm falling face-first! I feel the arms of a loving woman catch me. "Nice catch, Princess." I smile at my wife, she looks so beautiful yet so fierce.

"It's almost too unreal." She's giddy, "I've missed you."

"As well as I, Princess." I rub her chin.

"Booster, now!" I see Booster Gold open a time line to the Jurassic Era and I see Hyper-Adapter get thrown to there. Diana helps me to my feet.

There was a moment of celebration but I unfortunately have to end it. "We still have this dangerously built up Omega Energy, and I only know one way of disposing it." I alert everyone.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" I hear Hal shout.

"We have to stop and restart my heart." The whole room turned silent. Few seconds ago it was loud but now its silent because of my solution.

"No, no, no!" Diana shakes her head side to side, I could feel her panicking. "You just came back to us and now your going to taken away from me!" Tears escape from her hazel eyes, I wish there was another way.

"I'm sorry, Princess." I try to rub the tears away but they keep flowing down. "There's no other way." I take off my cowl, use my hand to raise her face so I can look into her watery blue eyes before I have my heart stop, I want her to hear what I have to say. "You pulled me out of the darkest depths and reminded me that there was still light in this world. Your love is the greatest gift I've ever received. You saved my soul." We lean in closer and passionately kiss, maybe for our final kiss.

"Promise me you'll return."

"I promise, Princess."

"I'm still waiting for our dance in Paris." A smile forms on her still sadden face and a smile appears on my face, too.

After a moment of staring into our eyes, I have to let them know one more condition, "Everyone, please refrain yourselves from telling my boys about my return, I don't want them to see me like this." They nod, "Now, let's get rid of the Omega Energy!" I state while I start walking hand in hand with my wife. We reach the medical bay and I lay down on the bed, waiting for my heart to be stopped. They have to wait for two minutes, then they can restart my heart, I might go into a coma.

"Are you ready, Bruce?" Clark asks.

Too easy, "I was born ready, Clark..." I tell him and I face Diana to tell her my good bye, "Good bye, Princess... For now." I tell Diana, then my heart beat slows down...

***TT***

In a span of six months, everything has either changed or stayed the same, but for the most part, things have changed. Where do I begin? I suppose we could talk about the DA's case against me. Looks like I fooled them with my acting abilities... If I wasn't Batman, I could be a serious actor! They didn't have any evidence to link me to the crime and they dropped the case against, so that's good. However, I'm still surprised that Commissioner Gordon knew who I was! Then again, that man is too good not to know our secret identities!

Kori and I have been keeping ourselves busy by going to charity events, operas, and appearing on TV. Anything to get ourselves out of the house.

Rachel and Garfield went out on dates (sometimes we went on double dates with them), mediation, and the oh so evident, herbal tea.

Jason, as much as I want to call him a terrible person, I can't. He's been a good uncle for my daughter (even goes as far as babysitting Mar'i, Paine, and Damian (even he has to be babysat, too)). It's been nice having him around even as I overlook the fact that he was trying to kill Joker and force me to shoot a pistol at him. I hope he isn't a bad influence over them, especially Damian! Speaking about Damian...

Him and Tim are a whole different story. Sometimes they make strides in their relationship, basically they take three steps forward, then they take two steps back with a lousy argument that leads into a fight! Can they just be good brothers or something? Seriously!

"Batman! Earth to Batman!" I hear Jason yelling at me. As much as I want to move to my right, I can't, because we're on a building that's leaning on its right and we're leaning on the building's pillars. I look straight and smashing through the glass with our bodies is the only way we can escape. How did we end up here? Oh yeah, I remember...

Damian and I were looking into a case, then Jason and Tim found evidence that supported my theory. So went investigated the source of the information all the way to this mysteriously vacant building, then an explosion occurred at one the floors down below us. And we ran to pillars that would support us from free falling to the ground. So that's how we ended up in our current situation.

"We gotta escape through the window and glide down." I tell them.

"One thing... I DON'T HAVE A CAPE WHICH I CAN GLIDE!" Jason shouts at me, almost making me sound like an idiot.

"Just grab on to someone!" I respond, he mutters something inaudible. "1...2...3. GO!" I command and we start hauling ass to break the window and to make sure we don't fall over backwards.

We broke through the glass like nothing and we slide down the glassy building like a bunch of baseball players using their momentum to slide to a base. We wait for the crack on the building to use our gained momentum to jump off the building. As we draw closer and closer to the crack, I bend my knees so I can use them as a launching pad.

JUMP! Time slows as I launched myself into the air, it feels like I'm a child again and I'm at Haley's circus with my parents, performing our Flying Graysons' routine...

I grab a hold of the cape and with a motion that of Bruce, I open the wingspan of the cape and I start gliding. The rush of air never gets too old, it's a comforting feeling I get; I'm glad Mar'i is able to enjoy a phenomenon like this. I feel something heavy land on me, I turn my head around to see Jason is holding for dear life. "You just have to land on me, don't you?" I ask.

"Remember ten years ago, when you got a free ride off me?" Figures, "Well I'm collecting my free ride, today." Hmph, all I can do is roll my eyes. We eventually land on one of the buildings that's owned by Wayne Corp. First, I make sure everyone is alright, no injuries or anything of that magnitude. A quick check on everyone confirms that no one got hurt. Thank goodness.

I decide to tell everyone that it is time to leave, until I see Damian jump over the building and follow someone. Damn, "I'll follow him! You two try cutting him off!" I follow Damian. Who or what, did Damian see that made him want to follow?

***TT***

As we were gliding down to one of the buildings that my father owned, I saw someone familiar. It looked like he was waiting for us to enter that building. He was wearing khaki colored clothing, horned metal helmet and metal plating that covered his body. It's the Dweller! Was he behind the recent cases of murder, recently? What's his motivation for this? After we land and Dick checks up on us, I decide to jump off the building and chase down Dweller. I don't care if he's stronger than me, I will take him down! However, I hear Dick calling behind me to stop, Dweller out here and we have to stop him!

After I land, I start chasing the giant of a man through the streets of Gotham. He's pretty agile for being this tall and wearing heavy armor. He eventually runs into an alleyway, where he realizes it's a never ending alleyway. "The road is over, Dweller!"

"Dweller? Dweller? I'm no mere Dweller, boy... I'm the Heretic!" He draws out his sword while I take out my eskrima sticks, they don't have the stun feature on them, yet they are still effective against my enemies. I ready in my fighting stance and he initiates the brawl. He swings his sword with so much force, I swear I could of felt him create new winds. Though I dodged his attack, the created wind pushed me back. I start hitting with the eskrima sticks but I'm only able to get ten hits on him; uses his open hand to shove to a nearby wall. Damn, that hurt! Then, I see him lunging with his sword and I time myself dodging the stab attempt. His sword penetrates the building and gets stuck, giving me an opportunity to wale on him.

After successfully hitting him a hundred times, I hear Tim call for me, "Robin, move!" So I jump a backwards while I put my eskrima sticks away and use my grappling hook to move to higher ground. As I land on an available spot, I see Heretic pull away from his sword and try to battle Tim, but Tim outmaneuvers him and wacks him behind the knees. Tim goes to higher ground, then Jason fires a couple of rounds that come from his pistols. He makes a little dent then he too, moves to higher ground. Dick throws a smoke pellet at the feet of Heretic, then Dick fiddles with the gauntlets and takes out two bat-tasers. He puts them to Heretic's neck, I see the lights of the Batmobile charging towards them. Although Dick's back was facing the lights, he still times his somersault perfectly so that the car sends Heretic flying upwards a couple feet, then he climbs for higher ground.

"Let's get out of here!" Dick commands us, we listen to him, and we end up throwing smoke pellets to the ground.

When we enter the Batcave, Jason spikes his helmet to the ground. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" He questions me, as if I did something wrong. "You couldn't tell us that you found Dweller (it's the nickname we gave him) and that he was responsible for the building collapsing!"

"Jason's right, Damian. You endangered the team, again." He mentions the time when I was looking for Joker, who I knew as Jack Napier.

"He goes by the name of Heretic." I update them on the name change.

"Even if there's a change of names, you still don't have the right to endanger the team." Dick takes off the cowl. "The fact still remains the same, you didn't tell us that you were going after him." He takes a deep breath, trying to keep his cool. "If you were to get captured by him, we would've went through hell just looking for you, and we would've been screwed if we found your location." He states.

I take off my hood and remove the mask concealing my face. "I'm sorry." I tell them sincerely. I feel a couple pats on my shoulders.

I look at them in confusion, "Just don't let this happen again." Dick assures me and I start walking away from them and I switch to my pajamas. I'm ready for sleep but why do I have a bad feeling against Heretic? I don't know, I just have feel a weird connection to him, what could it be? Why am I getting these weird connections?

***THUMP!***

I get off my butt and I check who I run into... "Mar'i, are you okay?" I ask while I lend my hand out for her. She accepts and I lift her up. "What are you doing?"

"I was walking back to my room. However, I can't say the same for you. What's on your mind?" She inquires.

"Remember that man that was with Talia?" She nods. "Remember the case Dick and I were working on?" She nods again. "Well that man was there at the location we went to and he goes by the name of Heretic, too. I don't know why, but I'm getting weird vibrations from him."

"What kind of vibrations?"

"The bad ones. Sometimes I wonder if Paine's predictions will come true." I think I felt the hardest slap ever, I look at into Mar'i's fierce, Tamaranian eyes that tell me a different story.

"I'm sorry, Damian, but you deserved that one!" I think she's cute when she worries about... Get that thought out of your mind, bury into the deepest part of my brain, and see to it that it never sees the light of day, again!

"It's okay, I was starting to discourage myself, but do you want me to walk you to your room?" I'm such an idiot, I think I need advice from Grayson.

"Okay, follow me." She happily leads the way.

We start the long walk to her room and I just can't keep Heretic off of my mind. It's a hard thing for me to do, but there's something about him that there's more than meets the eye. I haven't seen him for six months so why does he decide to pop his head out now? Why now? What could he possibly want? What his plan?

The League of Assassins! They have to be behind this! Why else would Heretic would pop his little, weaselly head out! I have to go to Grayson! I feel my shoulder being pulled back, though. "Damian, we're at my room!" I guess I was about to pass her room.

"Oh yeah, haha. Uh, good night." I hug her, then I start my search for Grayson. I know there's a stamp of Assassins on the crime scenes, now that I think about it. I look at the old grandfather clock, pull one of the levers, and the wooden grandfather clock budged over, giving me enough room to start my descent to the cave. I hear the clicking sounds of the keyboard and I see the light illuminating the cave revealing that he is still in his batsuit. "Grayson, I think I figured out why I saw Heretic today."

"Why did he show up?"

"It has to something with the League of Assassins." He pauses then he furiously types on the computer and looks at all the images that was at all the crime scenes. He notices the same thing that I inductively thought of, it was the Assassins.

"What could they want?"

"Beats me."

"But they do want something. However, the real question is 'what do they want?'" He curls his index finger to his upper lip. "Let's come back tomorrow and investigate it further, okay?." I nod approvingly and I let my body go to my room and sleep.

***TT***

A slim figured woman with straight brown hair, was pacing herself back and forth waiting for someone to show up. She was on the roof of a printing press, looking at the ground, "You've kept me waiting." The brown-haired woman speaks without breaking her gaze.

"I'm sorry, that _traitor_ spotted me!" The sound of dented metal was heard by the woman.

"Remember what I told you about _him_." The woman spat out the last part, "You're starting to get careless, however, you need new armor, if you intend on facing them again."

"That won't be necessary." He responded confidently, "Shall we continue with our plan?" The images of dark thoughts came to their minds. The woman thought about it; on the one hand, the armor was somewhat compromised and could lead to their potential downfall, but if the armor doesn't break, they'll succeed with their dark intentions. She stopped in her tracks with her back facing the dented, clad armored giant, "Start phase two of Operation... House of Usher." She said so coldly that a person could just drop dead from the sound.

The armored giant bowed respectively, "Yes, your Mistress," he leaped off the building without any hesitation, just hell fire in his eyes.


	13. The Meeting of Two Families

**AN: I do not own Teen Titans, they belong to DC Comics.**

I look at my two brothers helping out our injured brother, if it wasn't for his pistols, he'd probably dead, again. This wasn't supposed to happen, we fighting so well! We can't die like this! I will not die, not today, I will die when I'm an eighty year old man!

***A Few Hours Earlier***

Another uneventful day, some reporters hounding me about the where abouts of Gotham's favorite son, and with me answering the same way I have since day one: 'I don't know where he is, he didn't tell me anything!' So far, I've heard that the Time Travelers have taken a break from searching for Bruce, well at least what Diana has told me so far. Damian did tell me how the recent cases we've looked into have been related to the League of Assassins so let's see, although all the crimes happened in different parts of Gotham, they have the same MO's! Does it have to do with this Heretic person? He was there when that building collapsed, so why did he pop his head out? What's his end game?

A loud siren with red, bold letters alerted me that I was about to leave the Batcave, just waiting for Damian to change into his Robin costume. I lift myself off the comfortable chair and start walking to the Batmobile, "Alright Damian, I'm leaving!" I shout, maybe he'll come out of his hiding spot.

A loud thud tells me that Damian has landed on the car, "I scared you didn't I?"

"It would've, had I not saw you walking around the computer." I explain to him. "Now, let's go!" I put on the cowl.

After driving for five minutes, "Who are we going after?" Damian asks.

"Not a person, but Jason and Tim found evidence of a recent crime scene that will lead to Assassins' trail." From my peripheral, Damian nods. I hope we can track them down before it's too late.

We arrive at the street level corner and lo and behold, there's four distinct blood stained footprints going in different directions. I have a bad feeling that they want to follow these footprints and I don't blame them, but what if it's a trap? I kneel to the body of the victim and notice a billion of lacerations, but they do not point to an automatic death. However, the blood trail appears to be fresh while the victim's blood is at least three to five days old. "This person has been dead for at most five days." I glare.

"It smells like a trap." Jason states.

I stand up and search my surroundings to look for any kind of movement, then a bullet whistles past the left side my face causing some of the cowl to get torn off. "SNIPER!" I yell as I begin to run to my right to avoid more attempted headshots. I see Tim and Damian run the opposite of where Jason and I are running. Great were halfway separated, what's next?

After passing two blocks, I am six steps ahead of Jason, then what I was hoping not to happen, happens. A barrage of bullets enters that six step gap, forcing me to roll away from there, I look back to see that Jason is okay and is using the building that I just passed as cover from the reign of bullets. Damn it! I reach my ear and alert everyone to an updated safe haven, "Meet at emergency point delta!" I see Jason nod and he starts looking for a place to run and avoid getting captured. I want to throw smoke at their line of sight, but that'll attract the attention of myself and put him in danger. I attempt to look at the gunmen but I'm rejected by a swarm of bullets. No good, I look up and I that's going to be our only chance at escape. I look back at Jason, who is looking back at me, and I point up. He looks up and starts climbing, and I do the same. If we use our grappling hooks, it'll draw attention to ourselves.

It was a slow ascension, but a necessary one at that. Lucky we weren't turned into packaged meat by the bullets. By the time I reach the top of the building, I see Jason running away from two ninjas, I get ready to help, but I am stopped by two ninjas of my own. I glare at them, I recognize their tattoos. They're definitely League of Assassins, but who was shooting at us. I have to focus my attention at the two female assassins that are present before me. They pull out their katanas, I ready in my fighting stance, fortunately these gauntlets are able to withstand the power of the katana.

One of them initiates the battle and I block her attack with my gauntlet, I head butt her and disarm her. Her partner comes in and I block another attack with the gauntlet. I start hitting her with rapid punches, they were so fast that she couldn't keep up with the speed, then I grab her left leg, launch her in the air, and hit her stomach. The combined force of my hit and gravity pulling her down, caused her to lose air, and blacking out. I turn around to go after Jason but a bullet stops me in my tracks and I jump backwards to avoid another bullet. I start running to the ledge of the building and I jump off of it.

Who's shooting at me? Damn! It's starting to annoy me. Nonetheless, I raise my finger to my ear and I need to know if they're okay. "Is everyone okay?"

"Besides my MCL tearing up, I'm fine." I hear the sarcasm in Jason's voice but he was still in danger. I can't use the buildings to move, there's going to be a sniper waiting for me. He's not aiming to kill me, rather he's trying to send me off course. So I have to use the streets as a way of mobilization, but the Batmobile is at the crime scene and I don't know how far am I from there. I wasn't keeping track, this is going to be tough for me.

"Where are you?" I ask.

"I think I just past 3rd and Timm Dr." I nod but I have to look for a street sign to figure out where I'm at. However, I start to worry about Tim and Damian, they haven't answered.

"Tim, Damian, respond!" I yell, that's not a smart idea.

"I just caught up with Damian, we're heading off to find Jason. We're on 3rd and Burton Ave., by the way." Good, they're just about a block shy of reaching Jason.

I look out into the empty streets of Gotham to find no one, usually there's some mugger trying to rob someone, but not tonight. Kind of strange. However, I see a street posting, instead of wanting to be seen by the sniper, I take out a binocular and I look at what street I'm on. I'm on Timm Dr., that's a good start, but I can't figure out the other street. I start moving my perspective differently to identify that I'm on Kane Blvd., excellent. I have to move with the buildings and I should reach where Jason's at. I hope I'm not too late. However, I can't call the Batmobile, due to the fact that I'll tell everyone to follow the Batmobile and that's not what I want to do in this kind of situation.

After traversing the buildings of Gotham for ten minutes, I finally reach Jason's location, but he's not here. However, the sounds of yelling voices tells me to move to an alley way where I see injured assassins. They're so injured that they don't even try to assault me. I start walking with caution of what not to expect. As I turn the corner, I see an open space where Damian sends a flying assassin towards me, which I just close-line with no problem. Then Jason uses his pistols to fire nonlethal shots at the shoulders or legs of assassins. Tim knocks out a few more assassins. I officially enter the battle scene. "I want a sitrep (situation report)."

"There's about a hundred assassins waiting to kill us." Tim states while I nod. "So far, we incapacitated about twenty of them." He assumes.

"Jason, how are you faring?"

"As long as I have some extra magazines." He reloads his vacant pistol. "I should be fine, just be lucky I'm not killing anyone." Thank you!

The looks on their faces showed that they was someone behind who was the enemy. I jerk my arm backwards, I feel someone's face against my hand, and I hear a tiny thud. Damn am good. I roll forwards to go into a defensive stance. "Show off." Damian says with a bit of jealousy. I would smile but there's not enough time to smile.

I fiddle with the utility belt, finding a button that'll alert someone, explaining that we're in trouble, I personally don't care who answers the call. I don't want to fight such a lopsided battle, we're definitely not going to win if we're outnumbered. I feel a button, I think that's the emergency button, I hope it is. I press down on it, I just hope it gets everyone's attention.

A few more assassins descend down with their swords already drawn out and ready to kill. We huddle around Jason, shielding his rear end. They start running towards us and we confront them but we don't stray too far out. We don't want Jason to die on us, after all.

I caught the sword wielding hand of an assassin, disarmed her, and used my elbow to knock her out, too easy. I regain composure to see that I'm surrounded by them so I throw a smoke pellet to the ground. They sucked in the horrific scent coming off the pellet. While they were trying to get the smell out of their noses, I proceeded to pounce on them without any mercy.

I don't know why but when I was fighting these assassins, it felt like we were fighting recruits. Almost an unfair advantage on our part, but training for these new recruits.

Then the unthinkable happens...

***Return to the Present***

After I finished knocking out the last of what seemed like the Persian Army, I look over my shoulder to notice that I've strayed out too far from them, but I can see Tim and Damian attempt to help Jason on his feet, but he keeps falling down. I start walking towards them, to get Jason back on his feet. I look over to my left... Who's that? What's that person holding?.. Oh sh... My feet take over control and I sprint as fast as humanly possible.

**BOOSH!**

My eyes become horrified as the rocket launched its payload towards them. When my eyes find them, I see confused looks on Tim and Damian, and Jason tried pushing them away from him. I can't leave them there to die!

I beat the missile coming at them but I wasn't fast enough to get them to safety, I'm sorry Bruce. I wrap my arms around Tim and Damian, and I make sure their heads face down so they don't have to see what the end would feel like. My back faces the fury of the missile, my eyes instinctively shut by themselves.

Nothing but darkness shows in my vision, "Daddy, look! I can fly!" Pictures of Mar'i's first signs of her mother's abilities flood my mind.

"Richard!" Kori looked at me serious but I couldn't take her seriously, because of the way her body was fitting in the bathrobe, was kind of revealing her breasts. Then she smiled at me, "I love you."

Now what remains is the inevitable...


	14. The Official Return of Bruce Wayne

**A/N: Everything belongs to DC Comics.**

"Alfred." I weakly call out, holding my wounds together from patrol earlier. Even with this disguise, no one seems to fear me. I got stabbed by a man. I have to get this wound checked out before I pass out. Hell, I got into a fight with a woman! A woman! I was out there trying to protect them, but I only did the opposite of what I wanted to do. What do I need to do to make people fear me?

"Listen to me!" A mysterious voice calls out.

"W-who are you?" I ask the attention grabbing voice.

"Just a persuader." The being responded while I look over to the bell that I use to call Alfred, if I ring this bell, then Alfred will address my wounds. However it starts running away from me. How am I supposed to call Alfred, when I don't have the bell in my possession? "Don't worry about the bell, Alfred won't come to your aid, anyways."

"What makes you say that?" I ask defiantly.

"I know he won't, he wants to you to suffer for trying to rid the streets clean of crime, and he wants you to learn this mistake."

No, that can't be true! Alfred has been there for since I was a boy, he won't turn his back on me, not now, not ever! I try to reach the bell but I'm unable to get off my chair and the table stretches out. "Leave me alone!" I shout in frustration.

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Why?"

"That would just go against my plans."

"Who the hell are you?" I demand.

"The most powerful being in the universe, of course!" I try looking for the voice but I can't find it. "All you have to do is give up and accept Anti-Life..." My eyes widen at his claim. Give up? I swore on my parents' graves that I would clean this city of crime and prevent anyone from reliving what I went through! "Don't worry, all the crime in the world will be stopped. Just, let go." The offer was so tempting.

I look my parents' portrait. What am I supposed to do? Help me! Don't just stand there, give me an answer, I need an answer! Anything! Give me a sign!

Sounds of screaming glass brings me back to my conversation with this mysterious being. Maybe it's a rock but the outline of broken glass rejects this idea. Then I hear tiny scratches and I look at the bat who's comfortably sitting on my father's headstone.

The bat expands its wings, tying to scare me off, but I do feel terrified in its presence. However, the bat looks at with strange aura. I stare into its dark shrouded eyes, what are you trying to tell me? The bat shows me visions of what I presumed to be the past. A prehistoric man wearing the skin of a giant bat, another of pirate, a detective with an outline of a bat on his chest, a beautiful woman in red, white, blue, and gold. A man who wears a blue bird on his chest takes this mantle of the bat, someone wearing a crimson mask, another sporting an almost all red attire, the last one, mixing an old uniform with black pants and hood; they're waving at me to come to them, from their lip movement I think they're saying "Welcome home, dad." Then the beautiful woman kisses my cheek. I look around more... My... My parents, they're, alive? H-how? Mom, dad!

I hug them tightly, not wanting to let them go. They hand me a letter with my name nicely written, "When you're ready, read this." I want to say something but I can't and they move back.

"I'm so proud of what you've done, Bruce." My mom tells me and tears fall off of my face. I've missed you two so much.

When I dried off my tears, I turn to see everyone who I saw here, standing in my presence...

I regain focus and I stare at the bat with a shocking revelation... I've never been alone in fighting crime and I will never be alone! The bell returns to me and I raised my hand to grab the bell and shake it. Alfred hurries to my aid...

***TT***

I awaken on a comfortable bed and I roll off of it. The cold floor wakes my dormant feet more. I'm in the Watchtower, that's for sure.

There's a disease that still needs to be cured and I'm the cure. I look ferocious for my Batsuit. It has to be here somewhere! I see a sign that says in bold letters, **Batman**, bingo! After taking about twenty minutes to put on my suit, I start walking towards the teleport room so I can fight crime, again. As I start typing in the coordinates to Old Gotham, I hear heels coming into contact with the floor along with panting. I turn around to see... to see my wife staring right back at me with wide eyes, shocked that I recovered so quickly. "Are you going to stop me?" I question curiously.

She shakes her head sideways, "No, I won't, but I think Richard's in trouble, though." She showed me a blinking Titans' communicator that showed the coordinates of Dick's location.

"What are we waiting for?" We enter the coordinates into the teleporter and we enter whatever situation that's going on...


	15. Premonition of a Dream?

**A/N: I do not own the Teen Titans or Paine, they belong to DC Comics and Pizet, respectively. **

**Just to clear a few things up before anyone starts reading this chapter, I used the word "assassin" like_ thirty times_ while typing this chapter up so I looked up synonyms for it. The synonyms I used are: "clipper", "executioner", "enemy", "killer", and I think I'm forgetting some but this is just a heads up. I hope no one gets confused while reading; I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

A foul beast was released by its master and the beast hurries to its next meal before it would have to die. The targets of the beast understood that there was nothing in their power to stop from collecting the its meal. When all hope was lost for them...

"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!" A black dome covers up the Sons of Wayne. Before the beast could touch the shielding, black dome, a red arrow managed to kill the beast before it could hit the dome.

They looked up to see that they were still alive and Dick was grateful that back up arrived on the nick of time. "Titans, move!" Changeling yelled and the Titans formed a barrier around them. It wasn't just Changeling, Raven, Starfire, Cyborg, Nightstar, and Paine that came to help them, but rest of the Titans, except for one crimson quickster and a lilac and coral witch. So this lopsided battle almost drastically turned into an even one.

"Nice costume." Red Arrow teased.

"Thanks, black and gray suits me well." Batman responded as he stood up, "Raven, can you heal Jason's knee?" He pointed at the downed man who wore the crimson helmet.

Raven walk towards Jason, then looked back, "Paine, sweety, come over here and create a shield for uncle Jason and I." Paine walked to her mom and created a shield big enough to cover her, her mother, and uncle Jason. The healing process was fast, it only took about five seconds to fully heal his MCL. Then Jason jumped back to his feet and Paine let the shield down.

A clad figure in deteriorating, silver armor was walking in front of what seemed like a resurrected army of assassins. The figure dropped the rocket propeller and stood there, across from Batman. "Heretic." Batman glared at the man known as Heretic. Red Hood, who was also known as Jason, Red Robin, and Robin joined Batman at his side, staring at their fierce opponent.

"So, I'm still in charge?" Changeling, who was willing to give leadership back to Batman, asked his friend.

"Yeah... Just stay the hell away from us." Batman (referring to himself, Red Hood, Red Robin, and Robin) requested and Changeling acknowledged his request.

"Titans, go!" Changeling yelled and everyone jolted at each other like they were going for dodgeballs. When the two opposing sides met, it felt like for one night only, hell had surfaced on Earth.

Nightstar rushed through her foes like no tomorrow, one after another, they kept dropping like flies. She was starting to run out of breath, before she could notice that there was an assassin running to swing her sword, a green boxing glove knocked the air out of the hired killer. "Lian." Nightstar smiled at the green archer.

"Speedy." She teased while she turned her back, faced any opponent that was unfortunate to come near her, and she stretched her arms to make sure that the arrow was ready to be released on a moments noticed; Nightstar faced her back at her friend and kneeled, but she had her starbolts ready to throw and she was making sure no one was coming at her.

Paine somehow got separated from her mother, Raven, and was facing at least twenty executioners. Although her family taught her how to fight hand to hand combat, she wasn't good as Mar'i or Damian, she was just below her mom, in terms of skill. She understood trying to say her mantra would just leave her open to attacks, but she had to do something before she gets hurt or worse. She had to try; an assassin rushed her, Paine had disarmed the katana wielding warrior, but that didn't stop the warrior from giving up. Then the rest of them ganged up on Paine...

_**Crackle!**_ Paine noticed a big brown bear with stitches, a young man with cherry hair holding a younger, blond boy by the legs like Nicolas D. Wolfwood, and a blonde woman standing next to the bear. When the bear came to the scene, the killers stood in confusion, not sure who this mysterious team was. Paine was thankful that her adopted older siblings came to her aid. Tim jumped off the teddy bear while holding his younger brother's legs in his armpit. "You girls got to the count of five to get away from our little sister!" Tim yelled but the female killers weren't going to hed the young man's warning. "1...2...3...4...5! Teether, now!" Teether unleashed heavy rounds of rubberized rocks to the dropperss. One after the other they started falling down, until Teether ran out of ammo so Tim put him down and they were going to fight in close quarters.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zintos!" Paine recited her mantra, causing three clippers to float in black auras, and she threw them to their fellow partners and knocked a row of them down like bowling pins. Melvin had Bobby rolling over them.

Batman, Red Hood, Red Robin, and Robin were facing the enemy known as Heretic. Although Heretic was outnumbered, he still was able to find a way to counter each of their attacks. His heavy armor should've slowed him down like it did a couple days ago, but he was moving like thin air. Robin tried slashing Heretic but he moved to his right. Batman attempted to hit him but he caught the punch and threw him towards Red Hood. Red Robin flew towards him and he gut checked him. He fell backwards and Heretic proceeded to kick the ever-loving crap out of him. When Heretic raised his right hand to finish him off, a batarang was three inches away from striking Heretic in the arm, then it exploded midair by a well aimed bullet. The explosion fortunately didn't hurt Red Robin, but it did allow enough time for Robin to help his predecessor out of there. The explosion did push back Heretic back a few feet.

Red Robin shook off the hits that came from him, but boy those hits were tough to shake off. They were facing their opponent, again. Batman threw down a smoke pellet, then a grappling hook was reaching out for Heretic. Although it caught him, Batman tried pulling his opponent towards him, but his opponent pulled back and Batman was sent flying.

While Batman was in the air, he let go of the grappling device, and he glided through the air but he didn't have enough room to make U-turn. However, he found his good friend, Red Arrow, was in trouble so he decided to help out his friend, then return to his younger brothers. The dropperss weren't paying much attention to a sudden shadow that flew over a couple of them. Batman glide kicked one of the enemies, Red Arrow used three of his trick arrows to knock three of them out. Batman jumped over his friend and proceeded to punch one of them and jump across to punch the last one of the group that surrounded Red Arrow. "Thanks for the assist." Said man thanked while making sure his nearby surroundings weren't filled with villains.

"No problem." Batman smiled a bit, "Where's Wally?" He pondered.

"No idea." Red Arrow timed another trick arrow to nail the would be murderer in the head.

So Batman ran towards his brothers, who were not faring well against Heretic. Heretic just over matched them with his strength. Red Hood, Red Robin, and Robin were on the ground, holding whatever limb was hurting them the most, trying to at least soothe the pain, but still keeping an eye out for anyone wanting to kill them.

Batman vs. Heretic, they weren't going to be interrupted by anyone. They stared into each others souls. Like a horse being released from its pen, they lunged at each other. They stated to grapple each other, one trying to win inside control of the hold. Heretic's ever tightening grip on Batman began to bother him tremendously. Then he used his hips to toss Batman over. Batman used his feet to try to slow down the attack of the clunking giant of a man, but Heretic caught the kick and swung him towards the recovering band of brothers.

Batman quickly rolled up and ran towards Goliath. Goliath attempted to jab Batman, but failed when he slid under the punch and kicked out Goliath's legs. However, the downed giant suddenly returned to his feet only to be greeted by a staff entering his left eye. Robin landed on the concrete, rolling over to Batman. Heretic was fuming with rage, he turned to look at the boy wonder while preventing blood from protruding out, "Demon spawn!" He shouted defiantly, "I'm going to make you regret what you have done to me!" _**Bang! Bang!**_Two gunshots hit him in his right shoulder. "You wanna return to unliving, Todd? I have no problem sending you back there!" He threaten Red Hood, who was putting his pistol in its holster.

When Heretic turned to look at Hood, Batman jolted to the unsuspecting giant and leaped on his back. Batman was trying to choke out Heretic, but he found the cape and ripped the bat off of him. Heretic raised his foot to stomp the life out of the bat, before foot could meet its intended target, "DAD!" Nightstar rammed into the behemoth.

Batman looked at his daughter thankfully. _SHEW! _Nightstar managed to dodge a broken pipe thrown by the behemoth. "Robin, get Nightstar out of here. NOW!" Batman commanded a reluctant Robin. Nightstar wanted to protest her father's decision, forgetting about another pipe being aimed at her. She simply didn't have enough time to react to it... _SHEW! _Batman tackled his daughter, preventing what would be her untimely death. "Robin, now!" He glared at his sidekick who finally understood the message and escorted her out of harms reach, well Heretic's reach anyways. Batman knew if Mar'i joined, he would be protecting Mar'i from the giant. Protecting Damian was hard enough, but trying to protect them both would lead to the death of the second Batman. Robin and Nightstar reached Speedy, Paine, and Tim who was holding Teether, somehow getting ahold of unedible food.

After Heretic threw the second pipe at Nightstar, Red Hood ran towards the armored giant and speared him to the ground. Red Hood furiously jabbed the helmet, trying at least to dent the thing. Then he took off the crimson helmet and threw it down hard. He pushed on a button that activated the auto-destruct feature. "Die, you motherfucker!" _**BOOM! **_The explosion sent Red Hood flying backwards while Heretic was only buried a few extra feet into the ground.

A mask-less Red Hood touch downed to the concreted Earth, he rolled over twice, he was facing the night sky. He was breathing and that was somewhat of a good start, he didn't die from the blast or the impact from the Earth. He was having a hard time getting back up. "Gah!" He whimpered, trying to move his body, but his body was badly devastated from the explosion. His head rolled back and he saw figures in light armor walking towards him, he knew he was dead, they were staring at him like a loin looking at an injured zebra. There was no way for him to move out of the way. He started chuckling, "The story of my life, explosions! I am indeed worthy of the title of 'the Extra, Crispy Robin'!" He came to the realization that his first life ended due to an explosion and his second one will end because of an explosion crippling him from defending himself.

"JASON!" Batman yelled, Red Robin incisively got the point, and sprinted along with Batman to prevent Jason's second death.

While they were running towards Jason, a body-less armored Heretic managed to rip off another pipe and tried to align his eyes so they were locked on a cowl wearing superhero. As he locked on, purple hexes managed to make the pipe slippery and fumbled out of Heretic's hand, followed by crimson and flaxen streaks knocking the behemoth on its knees. "Not in my house, Conan the Barbarian." Flash stated while wiggling his index finger side to side. Heretic grabbed the pipe and tried swing at Flash's head, but missed. "Too slow. Tsk, tsk." He shook his head. Heretic jab the pipe like a spear but missed, again. Flash dodged the attack like usual but didn't expect him to swing again. The Flash went flying towards where Jason was surrounded. Batman and Red Robin fought their way to the middle, protecting Jason at all costs.

"I don't understand why you guys are trying to protect me." Jason coughed out blood.

"Don't worry Jason, we got you!" Batman yelled while head butting an enemies.

Red and yellow streaks rushed around the trio, then the assassins were on floor, some trying to get back up. "Bats, I got this," Flash began, "Wait a minute... Dick?" He questioned while Dick nodded at his friend's guess. Red Robin lifted up a wounded Jason. "What happened to Bruce?" Before Dick could explain the events prior, an assassin leaped towards the scarlet quickster. _**BANG! **_A bullet hit the killer in the shoulder. They looked behind Batman to see Jason holding his pistol.

"Be lucky, I spared her." Jason reinstated while white smoke was escaping from the muzzle of the firearm, his arm was shaking, due to the fact his body was exerting too much energy trying to hold on to the small firearm. Then he fell forwards, dropping the pistol, and Red Robin prevented him from hitting the cold, hard ground.

Batman smiled then he looked around for the man in deteriorating silver armor, but he couldn't find the man matching that description. "Where's Heretic?" Batman was concerned, he didn't want that man running lose among the Titans. Before Batman could begin to search for the behemoth, an enemy attempted to slash her sword at Batman, but he used his gauntlet to stop the attack. He launched his gauntlet to the air, lifting the sword too. Then he dragged her head to meet his knee and used his elbow to put her to sleep. Red Arrow joins the duo, almost reminiscing about the time they tried something of an 'Alpha' Teen Titans. "Wally, Dick, remember when we tried to form the Titans?" He asked.

"Red Robin, stay between Red Arrow and I." Batman was oblivious to the news of the new scarlet quickster. "Wait a minute. Wally is the new Flash?" The Flash nodded at Batman. "We need to hang out more often. But yes, I remember we _almost_ succeeded."

"How did we fail again?" Flash questioned trying to remember how the original Teen Titans failed while running around a few assassins.

"Robin wouldn't let me become leader." Red Arrow answered, releasing his trick arrow to oncoming enemies.

"That's full of bologna! I was the proper leader!" Batman refuted his friend's claim, flipping his opponent over and breaking her left arm.

Heretic was tossing all his opponents around like rag dolls, not caring what happened to them. He was just looking for two heroes or rather kids, a boy and a girl. A demon spawn and a half alien, half human hybrid. He wanted them to pay for they've done. One of them poking out his eye ball and the other ramming him into a building. He was fuming with rage, he didn't care if he had to destroy all the surrounding environment to get to them, he wanted them dead.

Then he found his two living body bags, next to an emerald archer and little version of Raven. He paused, then he slowly trudged threateningly. The emerald archer released her bow at the walking giant, however he caught the hilt of the arrow. He threw it to the ground and started picking up his trudging pace. Before Speedy could get another arrow released, Heretic already pushed her bow aside and used a strong rope to wrap her up and he disposed of her.

"Argh!" Robin rushed with his staff, hoping to take down the giant. However, like with Speedy, he caught the edge of the staff and began to swing it around, with Robin still attach to the staff. He finally let go and Robin was sent flying. 'I'll save the traitor for last, maybe have him witness his girlfriend's death, first.' Heretic rationalized.

Heretic turned his head to two of the girls, only one person between him and Nightstar. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Whatever material was lying on the ground, Paine was using it to her advantage. Nightstar threw starbolts at the giant, who drew out his katana, and was deflecting every starbolt. The sword ripped through materials like they were made of delicate skin. He rolled over towards Paine, she avoided the jab of the sword. Unfortunately, she ran into a clothesline and knocked her out. He lifted the conscienceless empath by her hood and tossed her opposite to where Speedy was located, she was attempting to release herself from the rope.

It was just Nightstar and Heretic. Nightstar was trying to think of something to find a weakness that she could exploit. Anything to get the upper hand against an opponent of Heretic's caliber. Her hands began to glow purple, he raised his katana, "Silly girl, do you honestly think that your starbolts will work?"

"What if I'm stalling?" She replied.

"Stalling for what?" He glared, then a birdarang and an arrow stuck themselves on the right arm of the towering giant. _**Boom! Boom!**_ He dropped the sword, Robin and a released Speedy sprinted to Nightstar's side.

"Nightstar, Speedy, get Paine, I'll defend you girls!" Robin raised his staff but Speedy wasn't ready to cooperate. "Speedy, Nightstar is going to need your help defending Paine." Robin glared at his new teammate.

She nodded and jogged towards Paine's location. "Paine? Paine?" Nightstar's question gets a response but Paine wasn't sure where she was at. So Speedy and Nightstar lowered their hands for Paine to reach, she grabbed them by the forearms and got to feet albeit a little shaky on the feet.

Paine was not only feeling a little dizzy but déjà vu, too. Like she was here before, in this kind of situation, but she wasn't able to solve the pieces of the puzzle.

Before Heretic could pick up his katana, Robin was already running towards him. He tried to wack him with the staff but he kept missing every swing. After Robin missed for his sixth time, Heretic ducked under and he jabbed Robin's rib cage, "Ah!" Then he grabbed the boy's head and cocked his arm back. He released a train of pain to the boy. The boy's head quickly twisted right with blood and a tooth being ejected and he fell to the deck with a loud thud.

Robin was having trouble getting back up, that punch should've put him to sleep, if he was raised like a normal boy. However he was raised to take a high pain threshold, but his boyish body had its limitations.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Black aura surrounded Heretic's body, he struggled to get out, and as soon as he forced his way out, he was greeted by Nightstar's uppercut. It sent him backwards a few feet, she came back with another punch but he jumped over her and he landed so he can face her. Before he started twisting his body to face Nightstar, he saw the archer pull her arrow. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he forced them to push upwards, just narrowly dodging the arrow; the arrow transformed into a heavy net and trapped Nightstar.

He landed in front of Speedy, she tried to hit him with her bow, but he blocked it and threw her hand down. He jabbed, elbowed, and threw her towards Nightstar. He saw Paine getting ready to saw her mantra again, pulled something out, but Paine wasn't sure what it was. He released the small ball, Paine wasn't able to react fast enough as it hit her mouth. It almost glued her mouth together, but Paine couldn't say her mantra. She looked at her mouth, trying to get rid of whatever material that was preventing her from saying her mantra. When she looked up, he already closed the gap that was separating them. He head butted her, the helmet disorientating her, then he finished with an elbow, forcing the empath to stop fighting. He lifted her hurting body and threw her towards the two heroes.

"Now, which one of you shall I kill, first?" If anyone could see under his mask, he was enjoying this moment of empowerment. But he was searching for his katana and he found it, "Ah, I know. I'll kill the hybrid." His dark intentions became known to them as he raised his katana.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Robin leaped into the air, hoping to catch the behemoth off guard. Although his plan was working at first, Heretic quickly recovered and he began to launch his katana in the air, preparing to meet the fourth boy wonder.

Nightstar look horrified as she couldn't get herself released from the net, Speedy was barely regaining her sense of surrounding. Paine's eyes widen as she realized that her nightmare of a dream was becoming reality before her very eyes and she couldn't do a damn thing about it. Then Batman heard Robin's yell, he turned around to see his younger brother meeting an unfortunate end to their relationship. Tears flowed from Nightstar's cheeks, "DAMIAN!"


	16. New Beginnings?

**A/N: I do not own the Teen Titans or Paine, they belong to DC Comics and Pizet, respectively.**

Everyone horridly watched as Robin, Damian Wayne, was inching closer and closer to the stainless steel of the katana. The blade was practically waiting for Robin, although it wanted to slice the flesh of the hybrid first. Beggars can't be the ones to decide.

'Should I call upon the speed force to save Robin? But the last time I used it, I almost didn't come back.' Flash contemplated. 'I promised Shayera!' He couldn't decide, plus it would take up to a minute to activate it, something Robin didn't have enough time for. Flash had to come up with an idea, fast.

'Why did I tell him about that stupid dream?' Paine raised her right hand in hope that she could at least alter the path of either Robin or the katana. However, gravity wasn't going to cooperate with the young empath. 'Why could I have never mention this to them?'

_***CLACK! SMACK!***_

The end of the katana went flying off as it thudded off the shield with a golden eagle as its emblem, yet the katana was still resting on the shield, and a black bat tackled the unsuspecting Robin. "You're a careless warrior." The shielded Amazon spoke. "You haven't been taking proper care of your sword." She spoke factually. "Or else it would have never broke." She pushed the katana off and Heretic took four steps backwards.

"I do not take advice from living, clay figures!" He retorted while pointing his damaged sword at the woman, who took out her xiphos. "Do you think that puny excuse of a sword will compete with mine?" His two hands grasped the hilt of his katana.

She smiled, "Want to disprove yourself?" She readied in her Spartan-like stance, she was going to wait for the brute to come to her, and he did. He charged at her, raising the katana recklessly, not caring what his opponent would do. As he slashed air, she rolled to her side and lightly sliced a piece of skin from his quadricep. He swung his katana backwards, only for it to bounce off the shield.

As Robin got back to feet, his mind trying to process what was going on. _**Clink! **_The boy saw Princess Diana shield herself from Heretic. "Mom!" He was ready to defend her until a hand grabbed his shoulder and he pushed it away. "Damn it, Grayson! I have to..." He was speaking at Batman, until he realized it wasn't his oldest brother... "Dad?" He confusingly muttered, trying to put pieces together.

"She can handle herself, the worst thing we can do is try to help in this situation." The original Batman told his son.

"Damn!" Heretic shouted, his sheer size and brute strength wasn't working on a seasoned Amazon warrior. His katana trying to pierce the woman's body, but the woman moved ever so slightly to the left, raising her xiphos. Heretic's off balanced stance left his arms exposed. Wonder Woman wanted to slice his arms off but she decided to lock them up against her body. He tried pulling his arms away from the Amazon to no avail, then he felt his head gain a concession from the Amazon's shield hitting the side of his helmet (helmet doesn't have any padding inside). His hands dropped the broken katana, then he was pushed by the woman's shield, sending him ten feet back.

Robin saw this opening as a chance to defeat Heretic so he picked up his staff and ran towards Heretic. Robin leaped towards him, leading with the staff, this time he bashed his staff off his opponent's shoulder. Robin quickly disconnected the staff to make two sticks, then he proceeded to hit the crap out of Heretic like a kid hitting a piñata without his/her vision being obstructed. He noticed his two older brothers had developed a plan, so he used Heretic to gain momentum and pushed himself away.

A birdarang packed with a small explosive came flying towards the giant, _**bang, boom!**_ A small explosion hit the behemoth's helmet, causing a huge chunk to come off, if the action was any slower, everyone would've noticed his exposed face.

Two grappling hooks passed his face, then it was followed by two Batmen uppercutting him, he flew upwards. He rolled a few feet, then he went into an upwards fetal position, his decrepit hands covered his face. By now, the army of Assassins retreated from the battle so Heretic was alone, facing the wraith of his victors.

Jason noticed that Paine was nearby and there was no way that Heretic would be getting up any time soon, "Tim, put me down." Tim wasn't sure if he heard right. "Put me down." Tim put the wounded man down, "Paine, can you try to heal me?" He asked his niece.

"Okay, I'll try my best." Her eyes glows the signature white coloring, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." All of Jason's injuries weren't going to be healed and he understood that he wasn't going to be 100% after being healed. Paine was starting to lose focus on healing Jason, the pain was becoming too much for her so she stopped. "I'm sorry uncle Jay, but I can't heal you any further."

"Don't worry kiddo." He smiled while he patted her on the head, he regained a small amount of independent movement, but he still needed something to help him walk. Tim saw his hand still in the air, he knew he was still going to be crutch for Jason, at least for now. He lifted Jason off the ground. "Let's catch up to them." He smiled at this moment of victory and peace.

The Bat Family followed by Titans, creeped towards the downed Goliath. The taller Batman grabbed his shoulders and raised him, he was still covering his face, "Why did you try to kill my sons?" He demanded. "Why?" He shook the giant.

"Your s-son? Your sons?" Heretic spoke with fear, slowly removing his hands from his face revealing his crystal, blue eyes.

"Urr. God. No." Batman was shocked at what he saw, he was looking at the face of his son, Damian, but Damian was Robin.

"Sons are born to die in war." Heretic and Damian looked one and in the same but differences in paths played a role in determining who they are now.

Damian was shocked that his biological mother actually introduced him to his clone before, but how he grew to enormous size is another issue that would be plaguing his mind. Mar'i and Paine were still trying to comprehend that Heretic and Damian were actually brothers this whole time. Furthermore, did Damian know about Heretic?

Only the Bat Family and the Logans reacted with disgust, only seeing to similarities, not towards Heretic, but to Talia. She created another son of Bruce. To everyone else, what was going on. Heretic saw confusion in the crowd so he threw a smoke pellet and escaped. Flash wanted to chase him down, but taller Batman stopped him. "He has failed, the only thing that awaits him is death, something that _I _can't save him from." He admitted his own jurisdiction, one of his exceptions was any assassin who failed to complete a task for the League. Their punishment: death by the hand of his/her fellow comrade.

_***BOOM! EEEEE! EEOOEEOOEEOO!***_

The younger Batman looked to where the sound came from, he was about to move, but his body had spent most of his energy fighting the army and Heretic. "Titans, get some R especially you, Jason. It would be best to use the Watchtower to heal some of your wounds. Don't worry, we've got Gotham for tonight." The older Batman smiled while pointing his grappling hook at a nearby building. Wonder Woman smiled at her adopted sons before leaving with Batman.

"Cyborg, take us to the Watchtower." The younger Batman requested and within a minute they were at the Watchtower. J'onn noticed that Jason need medical attention and he called the medical staff to get Jason to a room where he could be treated.

Some of the other Titans had minor injuries; Bumble Bee's wing was slightly damaged, Red Star suffered a broken arm, and Gnaark received a concussion.

Flash's stomach growled loudly, alerting the quickster that he needed to consume food, pronto.

***TT***

After we were beamed up to the Watchtower, I walked away from everyone else, I suppose to dwell on my current state of mind. Where do I begin? I suppose we begin with two close calls with death. I'm kinda glad Grayson didn't let Tim and I look at the missile coming towards us. Then my _real _dad came back and saved me. The thing is though, will he accept me as his son? We've met before, but as Ibn al Xu'ffasch and Batman. Two distinct façades, but will we ever meet as father and son?

Another question seems to allude me. How did Talia manage to hide my twin brother? However, it looked like he was built like a tank. Then, all those hits and explosions, yet he still was getting back up almost unfazed. I should've at least seen him at League's base, but I never saw him. When I saw his face, it looked like I was staring into a mirror. What if Talia created another son, with left over DNA from father, after she dropped me off at the manor? What did they do to you, in order for you to grow to have monster-like proportions?

"Damian." I turn around to see Mar'i._** SLAP!**_

"Ouch! What was that for, Mar'i?" I demand, rubbing my cheek.

"BAKA!" She cries while she punches my chest softly, then her silky face rests on my shoulder, I can feel her arms tightly hug my body. "Baka, baka, baka." I don't know what to do.

I decide to hug her back, I rest my chin on her raven hair, "I'm sorry, Mar'i. Please forgive me."


End file.
